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Math Trek
Grades 7 & 8
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Publisher: The Nectar Foundation
Learning Areas: Whole Numbers, Integers, Decimals, Fractions, Percent, Rate and Ratio, Data Management, Probability, Geometry, Measurement, Algebra and Patterns.
Age Range: 12 - 14 Grades: 7 & 8
Minimum Reqs: Windows 95/Pentium III or better, PowerMac OS 7 or better.
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Pricing and Ordering
toll free -1-800-387-1964
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or E Mail Nectar
nectar@occdsb.on.ca
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Program Description Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program
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Math Trek 7, 8 is a comprehensive teaching, practice, and testing resource based on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards for grades 7 & 8. (There are also similar programs by Nectar for grades 1–3 and 4–6)
The content of this program is divided into five main strands: Number Sense and Numeration; Data Management and Probability; Geometry; Measurement; and Patterning and Algebra. The program is primarily an educational tool, but is designed with children in mind, so that there is some animation, music, colours, and sound as well as lots of interactivity to maintain engagement.
From the main screen, there are three basic options for logging in: as a guest, as a teacher, or as a student from a particular class. The guest login allows you to explore all the components of the program without having your marks recorded. The student login allows you to do all the activities, including taking the quizzes developed by the teacher, and your results will be recorded. The teacher login permits the creation of student profiles and logins, the creation of tests, and access to student marks.
The five main strands are divided into a total of ten units, each of which has a well-organized outline, which students can follow in order, or explore at their own pace. The intention is for a student to go through the introductory activities, the skills activities, the problem solving activities, and finally do the test. It is possible, however, to write the test at the beginning. The Decimals unit, for example is broken down as follows: There is an introduction, followed by 9 lessons about “Understanding Decimals”. Next, there are 12 lessons about “Decimal Operations” (including order of operations, and converting to fractions and percent.) Before the quiz, there is a section on scientific notation, and a section on problem solving. Finally, the student can choose to write a practice quiz or the teacher’s quiz.
One of the nice features of this program is its accessibility to all math students. Higher level math texts often involve a lot of reading, which can be a problem for even the strongest math student who has difficulties reading. This program addresses this in two ways: first, there are numerous illustrations and animations; second, there is an “audio” button at the bottom of each question allowing the student to hear each question read aloud.
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Click Images To Enlarge
Home Page & Major Learning Areas
Topic areas to learning percentages
Example of on page Instruction
Example quiz question on percentages
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The following are comments from American and Canadian teachers who used Math Trek in pilot studies that helped develop the program
• "Real life examples and careers are excellent; would be hard to find enough time to talk about them in a math period."
• "Intro/lessons broke down skills into manageable units and made students understand why they were performing certain operations."
• "Intro lessons easy to understand; good way to introduce new concepts."
• "Meets and exceeds grade level expectations.Easy to follow; many skills covered."
• "Very good audio for lower functioning students who have difficulty reading."
• "Software beneficial as a pre-teaching tool at the beginning of a unit."
• "Like the idea that students can mark and show answers to questions (helps them understand how/why they may have made a mistake). Excellent tutorial for home use."
This program is for any math students in grades 7 – 8, or for any older math students wishing to review earlier grade content. The program can be used in a school setting as the foundation for, or supplement to a math program. Although the program is intended for managing large numbers of students and multiple classes (since it offers data collecting, quizzing, and class organization), it can also be used for home-schooling purposes (parents would have to develop final quizzes for each unit,) for tutoring, or for extra math practice.
This program has two main attractive features: it covers all of the curriculum areas for grades 7 – 8 in a detailed and structured manner, and it allows for the recording and management of testing data for large numbers of students and multiple classes. Although it would be very useful for home-schooling, it would see the best use in the hands of a math teacher who had several classes of students of different levels. (The teacher can write several tests for each unit, thus reaching grade 7 students, grade 8 students, as well as more advanced and struggling learners.)
Although there is a great deal of freedom for students in terms of the order in which they do the questions, with teacher supervision, their use of this program could look much like a normal math class. If every student were working on a computer, and they were told at the beginning of each class what lesson and what unit to work on, the teacher could control the flow and pace of the learning much the same way he or she would with a textbook.
The Nectar series of math programs are very good. Math Trek 7 – 8 systematically addresses the math curriculum and makes it interesting for students, as well as easy for the teachers who must assess them. If you have an interest learning more specifics on how Math Trek can be used as a teaching tool, click here
- Reviewed by Kevin Dempsey who teaches Math & English grades 7 - 9
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Pricing and Ordering
toll free -1-800-387-1964
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or E Mail Nectar
nectar@occdsb.on.ca
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To see other Math programs
Disney Ready For Math with Pooh - ages 3-6
On Track Math Series - ages 3 -9
Reader Rabbit's Math - ages 6-9
Math Workshop Deluxe - ages 6-12
Mia - Just In Time - ages 8 - 12
Carmen Sandiego Math Detective - ages 8-14
Neufeld - Understanding Math - ages 10-16
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