Math Web Resources and Standardized Test Preparation

Some web sites in this entire collection of math resources include games and simulations as tools for learning. You might be saying, "I don't have time for such things in my class!" But, before you pass them by, consider what Henry Jenkins (2005, pp. 49-50) has to say about games:

Dr. Robert Brown of University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2006) lends further support for game-based learning. "Well-designed games embed the elements of effective education: content, communication, interactivity, knowledge application, and assessment. Gaming is problem-based learning" (para. 7). Companies such at Tabula Digita are now producing 3-D video games devoted to mathematics and which meet NCTM standards. As educators, we cannot discount the power of this type of immersion for the digital natives we now teach.

AAAMath (or 321 Know Math, which has the same content with lighter colored backgrounds) contains hundreds of pages of basic math skills with interactive practice on topics found in K-8 curriculum. Each math topic is explained. Associated games are presented. Problems are randomly generated. Selection can be made by grade level or topic. There are links to additional resources for teachers and parents.

Aplusmath was designed to help elementary and middle school students improve math skills interactively. The site features Java and non-Java flashcards , games, worksheets, and a homework helper. Create and print your own flashcards, too. Flashcard topics address basic operations, including fraction topics and negative numbers; rounding, square roots, algebra, geometry, and money, for example.

Apples4theTeacher contains free elementary and preschool math interactive games and lessons on operations (computation games with +, -, x, /) counting and number sense, telling time, geometry and geometric shapes (including tangrams), measurement, interactive number charts, and money.

Arcademic Skill Builders has free online educational video games, like you'd see in an arcade, for math and language arts. Math has addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in single-player and multi-player options for elementary students. At the end of a game, you get a report on how well you did. These are fun and motivating.

CoolMath.com is award-winning and features topics in mathematics and science suitable for pre-K and upward, which include games, puzzles, brain benders, fraction lessons, fractals, geometry, algebra, and more. The site is designed for fun--a must see! Cool characters include, for example, Spike, Bubba, Smiley Dude, and Zeebo.

Count Us In uses a cartoon-like game format with everyday activities to help young children (preK-2) learn basic math concepts (e.g., counting, patterns, time, sorting, halves, height, volume, length, chance, addition, subtraction). Site is maintained by Australia Broadcasting Company. Audio does not accompany directions on how to play, so young learners might need help reading directions.

Davitily Math Problem Generator offers a web-based math problem generator for basic math, algebra, and geometry. Teachers, students and parents can quickly and easily generate worksheets, tests, and quizzes. Solutions are included. Some worksheets are free; others require a small monthly fee.

Dositey.com has worksheets with answers to most worksheets online to provide additional practice of basic skills in mathematics and language arts. Worksheets are divided into topics and grade levels: K-2, 3-4, and 5-8.

Elementary Geometry Resources from Baltimore County Public Schools contains a series of links to resources for teaching geometry in grades 1-5, organized by grade level.

Everyday Math Resources from the Educational Technology page at Center School District (MO) contains additional web resources for each of the units in their K-5 math texts, which give students interactive practice on concepts in each of the five major NCTM strands. Highly recommended for elementary grades.

FunBrain.com is an award winning site for K-8 teachers, kids, and parents. Content is devoted to educational games on math, language arts, science, history, music, geography, and art. Resources for teachers and parents are numerous. Math Brain, for example, has 25 interactive, online games for K-8+ in a video board arcade style. Games align with students' level of knowledge in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and problem solving.

iknowthat.com features self-paced interactive multimedia activities on topics from preK-6 in several subject areas. Audio explanations accompany a highly engaging format. Teacher guides accompany standards based lessons. Multimedia is first rate!

Internet4Classrooms Grade Level Skills for grades 1-8 is based on Tennessee Curriculum Standards. The standard is listed and paired with Web resources that address the skill or concept to be developed.

King's List of Online Math Activities: H. DeWitt, technology coordinator at King Middle School in Kankakee, Illinois, has an award winning collection of links to web activities, which are categorized by concepts taught in K-8. An added plus are links to famous mathematicians and the history of mathematics, teacher lesson plans, and sample standardized test items for grades 3, 5 and 8 from the Illinois Department of Education.

Learning Wave Online is a classroom resource for interactive mathematics, primarily for grades 3-9. Each topic contains explanations of concepts and interactive practice designed to engage and challenge students. Applications include basic, intermediary, and advanced levels in topics of number theory, integers, decimals, fractions, percents, probability, algebra, and geometry. A teacher section and answer key are available.

LINKS Learning Illustrated Lessons for Math contains excellent animated lessons for introducing elementary students to estimation of length, place value, symmetry, patterns, weight and capacity, and tangrams. "This E-learning site has involved Washington's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and partner organizations including the Technology Based Learning and Research Project at Arizona State University; the Washington school districts involved in the Washington Alliance for Better Schools; Carkhuff Thinking Systems; Limelight Technologies, Inc.; Fairfax County, Virginia schools; and Educational Service District 113 in Olympia, Washington." The SuperMath interactive games help students to practice decimals, fractions, angles, and more. The site also includes Reading LINKS, a set of 18 multimedia lessons that demonstrate reading strategies.

Math Cats: Elementary students interactively explore the world of polygons, polyhedra, large numbers, magic squares, lissajous, and more in MicroWorlds. Master concepts with games, crafts, art, puzzles, projects, word problems. There is information for teachers and parents. This award-winning site is by Wendy Petti.

Math Doodles is by Daren Carstens, who is the developer of the award winning software Math Arena. He offers several interactive puzzles and games for elementary learners to have fun. But there is learning, too, as students practice addition, subtraction, money skills, pattern matching (shape, number, color), for example. Among current games are Connect Sums, Number Jump, Polyomino Shift, Double Traits, Sum Stacker, Time Shuffle, and more. Older learners also benefit, as students really need to think as they do these.

Math Drill: Work interactively for FREE from your home or school on Math problems organized into 86 levels (and increasing ) of addition, subtraction, ordering, multiplication and division, dealing with numbers and fractions, decimals, percent, algebra, geometry, time, in direct as well as more analytic word problem format. There are step-by-step explanations for answers. Start with a level suitable for you and practice your way up. Keep track of your progress. Teachers can create homework problem sets and get class scores reported in a table format.

Math Goodies from Mrs. Glosser features interactive math lessons, homework help, worksheets, puzzles, and message boards. The site is primarily for students in grades 5-8. Younger students might benefit depending on their math background and reading skills, as well as older students who need remediation. Math Goodies also has a page of interactive calculators for basic arithmetic, loan payments, solving quadratic equations, and generating a random number.

Math Playground: Animated characters created with Flash add to the appeal of this learning site for grades 1-6. The site offers interactive word problems, games, flash cards, logic puzzles with a focus on applying arithmetic operations, using geometry and algebra concepts, whole numbers, decimals, fractions. There are some virtual math manipulatives also, such as a protractor, fraction bars, equivalent fractions, percents, a spinner for probability, function machine, pattern blocks, and a geoboard.

Math Worksheet Site will allow you to create printable math worksheets, either with or without answers, from your browser. These are suitable for elementary students learning basic arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), measurement, telling time, least common multiples, reducing fractions. Number lines and coordinate plane grids for graphing can be generated, and a 100 block chart (useful for introducing prime numbers).

Max's Math Adventures is a K-2 math and language arts game in which hosts Max and Ruthie challenge young students to solve real-world math problems by using clues embedded in a fun, rhyming poem. Lessons and extension resources are designed to help build critical thinking skills, also.

Multiplication.com includes strategies, activities, games, and worksheets to help teach multiplication facts. Games are included for the classroom, for play over the Internet, or for download to play on your computer.

Noetic Learning Math Worksheet Creator includes free drill and practice worksheets with randomly generated problems. Teachers can set criteria for problems displayed in number sense and place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, money, and fractions. The paid membership gives access to other topics in elementary math. The format for presenting problems with the worksheet creator is horizontal, so students may need to recopy problems to paper to line up numbers appropriately for completing calculations. Answers can be entered online and correct answers are displayed when students indicate they are done.

Numbertime, brought to you by BBCi in the UK, helps preK-2 students to begin building their math skills via animations, games, songs, and movies. Don't miss Teachers and parents can also link to resources to learn about money, shapes and space, resources for covering a full primary school curriculum (!), telling time, mental math, and more.

Probability introduces students to probability, and collecting, graphing, and interpreting data. There are online activities for students to examine (and yes, adults can play too) as well as ideas and activities for teachers to use in their classrooms. Numerous web links are included to help you and your students explore this concept.

Rainforest Maths by Jenny Eather in Australia provides interactive activities for learners in grades K-6. Topics address numbers and number systems, operations and calculations, strategies and processes, patterns and algebra, geometry and space, measurement, chance and probability, data analysis, and money. This is a very colorful and engaging site for building skills. Immediate feedback to answers is provided.

Skillwise from the British Broadcasting Company (UK) focuses primarily on words and numbers. The numbers section will help students at all levels with basic skills: working with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages; measures, shape and space; and handling data. Sections contain fact sheets, quizzes with varying difficulty, and printable worksheets with answers. Interactive games for mastery, video/audio segments to illustrate application of principles in real life, as appropriate, are included.

Teach R Kids features Math for Elementary School Kids with interactive lessons on topics in number basics, sequences, patterns, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, calendar, time, rounding, and money. Online worksheets with immediate scoring and correct answers are available for pre-K students, grades 1, 2, 3 and upper elementary. Some of the activities are timed, which allows students to see their improvement. Students can work on mastery at their own pace.

TimezAttack is a "real kid-friendly" multiplication tables video game from BigBrainz.com. Students learn their multiplication facts for 2-12 with this engaging software. The base version is free; Pricing for the premium version is available for individuals or schools. The difference in versions is primarily the level of graphics. The goal is for students (ages 6 and up) to escape the monster-filled dungeon by navigating through a maze filled with doors that open when multiplication facts are correctly answered.

Visual Fractions, by Richard Rand, is an online tutorial with instruction and interactive practice in identifying, renaming, comparing, and operating on fractions, including mixed numbers (add, subtract, multiply, and divide). All examples are modeled with number lines or circles. This site helps students, primarily in grades 3-8, to picture fractions and operations on them.

Visual Math Learning is a free educational web site developed by W. Bateman, who indicates that the site features "an interactive on-line tutorial for teaching elementary mathematics and basic arithmetic for grades K-12 at the pre-algebra level. It is an instructional aid for parents, teachers, and educators of primary, elementary, and middle school students, as well as a resource for lesson plans, homework help, and home schooling math lessons. The tutorial includes games, puzzles, interactive diagrams, and computer animated virtual manipulatives that emphasize active learning concepts by visualization."

Wired Math is for students in grades 7, 8 and 9 and their teachers. It is available in both English and French and based on the Ontario (CA) Mathematics Curriculum for grades 7 to 9. Its easy-to-use format is suitable for students who want to improve their skills through online games, drills, and problem solving. Students can review topics through the completion of exercises or additional questions and also develop mathematical independence, judgment, and original and creative thinking. Questions and problems will appeal to beginner, intermediate, and advanced students. Answers for all exercises and full solutions for challenges; extension sections are also provided. Materials at this site were designed by a team of mathematics teachers who partnered with the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) at the University of Waterloo.

Worksheet Library has several thousand printable K-6 worksheets in PDF format for teachers, parents, and home-schooled students. While there are hundreds offered for free, there is a nominal yearly fee for access to all. Answers are provided. Subjects addressed include mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies. Graphic organizers and time savers are a plus.

References:

Brown, R. (2006, Sept. 6). ECON 201: A university economics course as an online computer game. Campus Technology SmartClassroom Newsletter. Available: http://campustechnology.com/articles/41156/

Jenkins, H. (2005, April). Getting into the game. Educational Leadership, 62(7), 48-51.