Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about creating a version of MathRun for kids but more like a simple arithmetic trainer than a competition. At the moment I have the following ideas:

• kids can choose between classes so if they can’t multiply or divide, they won’t get those tasks
• instead of using left or right for the correct answer, they have to use a virtual numpad (or their keyboard numpad) to  type in the answer
• after each task they see if their answer was right or wrong (and in this case the correct solution)
• the tasks start easy and gets more difficult if the kid answers correct and less difficult if it answers wrong
• technology: instead of flash I would use HTML, CSS, Javascript and Ajax, so it will run even if the computer/browser doesn’t have the flash plugin (not sure how this is handled in schools today)
• and of course it will be 100% free

Do you think this is a good idea (constructive criticism, please)?

What are your thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

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(Kommentare die ich bis zum 11.07.2010 zu diesem Artikel unter http://blog.mathrun.net erhalten habe)

jayme says:
Great idea! This would be useful for students learning their math facts for speed!

Lucas says:
I am 11 years old and this is a cool idea !

Katie says:
It would be great to be able to not have the mulitiplication/division until the kids are ready for it. My daughter would love to play an addition/subtraction version.

Mary says:
I love your ideas, especially having the option to play only with the math skills you have learned – i.e. +, -, x, or /….
Typing in an answer would be great, but I do also like the right and left arrow use for answering. I think seeing and recognizing a wrong answer is a good skill. Maybe you could have the option to do one or the other.
The game adapting to right and wrong answers would also be a great feature.

Michelle says:
Students need practice with basic facts. Allowing the choice of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division would ensure that success is within reach. This is a great activity which could be a 5 minute addition to a young person’s day outside of valuable instructional time that should be spent with problem solving and reasoning in the math curriculum.

Diane says:
Mixed functions certainly have a place in practice but being able to specify a desired math function and/or grade level would definitely optimize the effectiveness of this site. I appreciate the color indicator for correct and incorrect answers. Students need to know when they are correct and when they are not with out notifying the whole class. Thanks

KarinB says:
I think that is a great idea! There can never be too many websites for kids to practice their basic facts & computation skills. I would love to beta test it when you start to develop it and would be happy to provide suggestions along the way. I’m a retired teacher.

admin says:
@KarinB: That would be sooooo awesome! I will definitely consider you as a beta tester! But I think it will still take some time till I start, at least a month, but probably two or three. I send you an email when there is something to test

Ike says:
This would be a very good tool for kids. I have two, and looking forward to seeing this “math for kids” soon. Thanks.

SD says:
I like the idea for the kids to be able to do this; they would love it. I would say to give them the option of being to type in correct answer and also using the arrows. This allows them to be able to pick out when an answer is wrong; This will give them some practice for testing purposes.

Mike B says:
This is a great idea, and a big thanks for your work.
I like the idea of the user being able to select their level, and can I suggest that the increase in difficulty includes both more complex or faster. e.g. if doing number bonds, 2+1, 3+1, 4+1, etc when the series has been completed a choice is given of either the same series faster or 2+2, 3+2. etc.?
Also I do like your correct/wrong icons with the big tick/cross that works for those who are color blind.
Thanks again…

el_kezo says:
I think that’s a great idea and that it would be interesting if you could add a level in wich the kid has to guess the operation in between the numbers. I think it would help developing other kinds of skills.

Viviana Escobar says:
I’m an Argentinian librarian. I’ve enjoyed myself so much with MathRun. It’s a great idea if you could develope Mathrun for kids. I offer you my free helpful for translate it to Spanish, because I hope my pupils can play it. Thank you.

It took me some time, but the badges are finally here. Now everytime you play MathRun you get a badge with your score at the end. If you want to show your friends how fast your brain is, don’t hesitate and grab the badge!

Till now I haven’t really tested how much Brainspeed you can achieve, but today I scored 9750 after I saw someone (don’t want to say a name here maybe he wouldn’t like it) ruling the first position with 8608.

So I started really focussed and reached Level 20 with only 3 or 4 mistakes. This is awesome (and in my case a little bit of luck) and gave me the opportunity to raise the bar to 9750.

I think I made only 2 or 3 mistakes less than the previous first place but there is still more possible. Not only 10.000, maybe even 11k or 12k. So if you see someone having a five-figure score, don’t call him a cheater, it really is possible. And remember, once you reached level 20, the tasks are really simple and every correct answer gives you many points.

Try to beat my score

Apparently some users are having login issues and can’t save their Highscore. This isn’t easy for me to solve, because I can’t debug errors which I can’t reproduce (it’s working for me in IE8, Firefox and Chrome). So I created a short video how the login system should behave:

Mathrun Login Video

1. click the “Connect with Facebook” Button
2. a Popup should appear where you can login with facebook / Connect with MathRun
3. a second Popup should appear where you can allow MathRun to post your highest score to your Facebook Wall (if you don’t allow it your score will still be saved and appear on the highscore)
4. after that you should be logged in and the “Connect with Facebook” Button should be replaced by a “Facebook Logout” Button

If you experience a different behavior please contact me via the feedback formular or send me an email to: christianstrang@web.de

If you like and for the purpose of debugging you can create your own screen capture with this free tool: ScreenToaster

I changed the gameplay a little bit. Till now the tasks got faster by a static number so that you had to press “LEFT” or “RIGHT” really quick if the speed was too fast to read/solve the tasks but still to get more points. This works now different, the speed still increases if you make a mistake but now it will “kill” you faster, so that there is no clicking marathon at the end (or at least only a short one).

To make it easier for beginners i decreased the start speed. With these two changes you might now see more levels (maybe even the ones after level 19 ). Still only the really good players will encounter the level 20 and higher with a moderate speed and collect much more points.

I also did a minor change to level 17, which was just too hard (even with a moderate speed).

Because of this I also  reset the highscore, so rush and score the first place

This is the first day, MathRun is online and I’m quiet excited about how you like it (use the feedback form to send me your opinion, suggestions, bugs, etc.).

As some of you might have noticed, the version number says “0.9.2″. Usually the first version should have the number “1.0.0″ or something similiar but this is because its just a first test. After I remove the first bugs and add some important functionality (like using the mouse to choose the correct answer thereby giving IPhone [maybe in a few years when the IPhone supports flash] and other Touchscreen Devices the opportunity to practice with MathRun) I will round this number up to an even 1.0.0.

If you have any trouble with the game just send me your feedback but try to be as specific as possible (what doesnt’ work, when does the error occur, what browser do you use, does the error occur everytime or just sometimes).

Oh btw I’m the same guy who created the typing speedtest, so this will be absolutely free too but I might throw some advertisment at you, sorry

And now stop reading this boring blog and start training your math skills!