With This Math Games App, Growth Mindset is Possible
How does this math games app uncover a student's positive growth mindset? Read more to find out Julia's journey with Elephant Learning!
Do you ever feel like your child is perpetually behind their peers in school?
Do you hate making your child do extra math work when you know how precious and short their childhood actually is?
We want our kids to have a chance to be kids.
But there’s all this pressure to make sure they don’t fall behind their peers academically.
What research shows is that all elementary school kids — regardless of their family income — lose over two months of math skills every summer.
Most researchers believe this is a case of “use it or lose it.”
Kids are less likely to engage in math problem-solving consistently during the summer, as opposed to reading.
They don’t use their new math skills regularly enough, so they ultimately lose those skills as a result.
But this doesn’t mean that you need to hold daily math lessons for your kids, either.
You can give your kids a break from their typical school-year routine while still providing quality learning experiences.
Studies show that learners can improve long-term retention when they space practice over multiple days.
That probably comes as a relief to many parents who think they need to create daily math lessons for their kids.
For parents like Divya — a mom to a 6-year-old and 3-month-old — it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get the basic things done.
Coming up with creative ideas on a daily basis to keep your child engaged in math learning can be a daunting task for any parent.
That’s where Elephant Learning — a math games app for kids — can help.
Divya was thankful she could provide Elephant Learning to her son, 6-year-old Kaustubha.
As a mother to two sons — Kaustubha and his 3-month-old brother — she cares about her children’s long-term success in math.
“I want to use this app to help my son learn math in an effective way,” she says.
She knows that the earlier she can build their confidence, the better off they will be.
“I am sure that this will boat his self-confidence immensely,” she adds, and she’s right.
As long as your kids can find 30 minutes every week to play math games on the Elephant Learning app, they’ll be headed to lasting math concept mastery.
And again, it’s probably better to space out their playtime on Elephant Learning.
But you shouldn’t be surprised if your kids quickly hit that 30-minute marker.
That’s because Elephant Learning designs engaging games that reinforce math concepts. It’s called math gamification.
It’s not your traditional math lesson that’s dressed up in new technology.
These games are designed by educators using research-backed games to model math concepts using attractive animations.
They’re also age-appropriate, and use many common objects or animals that kids may encounter in their books or everyday lives.
Personal curiosity is a major driver of learning, which is why Elephant Learning can be the key to your child’s success in math.
The math game designs vary depending on the age of the learner to keep their curiosity alive.
A 16-year-old will find interesting math games that don’t look like “baby” games.
Young learners won’t get intimidated or frustrated by games that are too advanced.
The Elephant Learning app dynamically adjusts to the learner.
That means it won’t waste time on math your child has already mastered, which prevents boredom.
But more importantly, it also ensures that your child has mastered a math concept — which can be hard for a parent to assess on their own.
Just because your child memorized the fact that 2 times 3 is 6 does not mean they understand why that is true.
If your child doesn’t understand how multiplication works, they won’t be able to build on that skill to master a more complex concept.
But Elephant Learning doesn’t make your child feel bad for what they don’t understand.
The app assesses your child and tracks their progress without revealing any negative feedback that might frustrate them.
It identifies which concepts need attention and builds a custom plan based on that information.
The math games help kids make connections among math concepts so they stop seeing them as disconnected facts.
That means once your child understands why 2 times 3 is 6, Elephant Learning helps them see why 20 times 3 is 60.
But your child is the driving force behind their learning.
Elephant Learning will continue to provide more challenging material as your child demonstrates mastery.
Again, we’re keeping your child curious and engaged in learning — and retaining — more math.
Before Kaustubha started playing on Elephant Learning, “I knew he was already behind in math for his age,” says Divya.
Elephant Learning started assessing Kaustubha’s math concept skills by introducing various types of games.
He had the same math concept mastery as a 4-and-a-half-year-old.
So the Elephant Learning app adjusted to this baseline.
It presented games to Kaustubha that he could finish easily, building his confidence and keeping him excited to play.
Once the app confirmed he had mastered a concept, it gradually introduced more challenging content that built upon previous concepts.
Elephant Learning makes sure your child understands the connections between math concepts.
It’s not about memorizing facts. It’s about seeing and understanding connections.
Kaustubha isn’t frustrated when he encounters something unfamiliar. He relies on his existing knowledge to problem solve.
Kids love puzzles, but the puzzles can’t be too easy (boring) or too hard (frustrating).
The right kind of challenge will keep kids curious and engaged.
Divya can tell she has found a long-term solution for her kids to stay engaged in their math.
After six months of playing on Elephant Learning, Kaustubha has mastered almost two years of math concepts.
And he doesn’t show any signs of boredom or fatigue from playing.
He can continue to play as he likes throughout the year.
That means Divya can rely on Elephant Learning to help him keep pace — or even surpass — his peers during the school year.
And once summertime rolls around, he’ll have a fun game he can play to keep his math acquisition intact.
No more starting over in math every year for Kaustubha.
And Divya can let her kids enjoy their childhood without sacrificing critical math progress.
“I want a way to enforce math learning by fun so that they continue to be engaged in learning math.” - Mom, Divya
Districts or Teachers that enroll in our pilot program can try the program for free in their classrooms.
Here is a collection of publications created by both third-party and our in house team of scientists to examine the progress of students, classrooms, and schools within our system.
