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Educational: 4.8
Overall Design: 4.7
Ease of Use: 4.8
(4.0 = good, 4.5 = very
good, 5.0 = excellent)
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Program Description Commentary Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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Math Workshop Deluxe is a fun house containing 8 math based activity rooms. Upon entering you meet your guide Polly who tells you how the program works. She will also guide and help you once you are in any of the activity areas. This is a self directed program that allows you to choose what you want to do.
On the main floor, there are 4 activity areas, 3 of which exercise your skills in visual construction, detecting patterns, and solving geometric puzzles. The fourth area "Window Patterns" allows you to be creative by making colourful geometric designs on your own.
As you mount the stairs, you find 4 areas that exercise and test all your math skills. In one area " Rhythm Shop " you will actually learn how to identify fractions, and you will be tested on your skills. (See middle right) In "Bowling for Numbers" (see bottom right) you have a choice of adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, estimating or equivalency activities.
In "Bowling for Numbers" a bowling pin pops down for each correct answer. When you get 10 pins, Gus The Gorilla goes bowling, and then you play another set. When you have completed 10 sets, you can move up to the next skill level, or switch to another type of math activity within the area.
In "Boiler Room" you are presented with word problems (i.e. questions involving math calculations) challenging your accuracy and speed of response. In "Rhythm Shop" you identify different time codes of a music bar and hear music played to that time signature as a way of understanding fractions. And finally there is " Rockets " an interesting game of deductive logic.
Math Workshop Deluxe has four levels of difficulty (hence the age span from 6-12 ). You work your way up through the levels. You also can easily customize the program's difficulty to match exactly the skill levels of your child or class. The program tracks each user's performance, by specific math activity.
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" I really liked being able to try out all the things in the house, especially trying to put all the different shaped blocks in the square. That was neat." - Kelly, age 9
" I liked doing the fractions when the answers flew around in the Boiler Room." Nick, age 11
" I liked trying to beat my sister on the rockets. " - Joshua, age 10
"I spent hours making different designs in the Window Patterns and printing them off. The colours were great." - Sally, age 12
Math Workshop Deluxe is engaging for both boys and girls. Our tester group found the cartoon characters fun and enjoyed their antics. The program overall has a great quality of fun to it, making it appealing to a child who wouldn't necessarily jump for joy over the prospect of "doing math". This program has predominantly drill type exercises that help solidify a child's basic math skills and build memorization requirements (i.e. multiplication tables). This program is designed for the child who likes the freedom to choose a path of activity and explore on his or her own.
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Math Workshop Deluxe is an excellent alternative, if the dark intrigue of Carmen Sandiego's Math Detective would not suit your child. The tone and style of this program are upbeat and fun.
The on screen guidance makes it easy for most children to operate without assistance. The activities are in essence math drill exercises that cover an excellent range of the basic math skills that require practice to become embedded.
We can also see this being used effectively in a classroom setting, (or at home after school). The challenge level of the exercises can be easily set by the teacher (or parent) to match the learner's skill level and the programme tracks and records each user's performance level in each activity area. This program engages the user to get great drill practice in a much more enjoyable way than "doing math questions" on a sheet of paper.
The teacher (or parent) can easily access performance specifics across the 6 math skill areas for each of the users of the program. (If you have a group of students or several children at home) This can be a good way to find out what you have to focus on in future classroom instruction (or at home) and also help identify specific remedial needs. Math Workshop Deluxe, with it's performance charting would be a great show and tell on parent's night.
If you are looking for a program that gives tons of drill practice to assist a child in gaining proficiency in his or her basic math skills, this program provides more opportunity for straight drill or practice than any other program we have seen.
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Windows: 3.1 or 95/98, 33 MHz 486 or faster required, 8 MB RAM, requires 4 MB hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM drive or faster required, SVGA monitor/display card 640x480, 256 colors; thousands of colors supported. N.B This program will not run on Windows XP
Macintosh: PowerMac required, System 7.1.2 or higher, 12 MB RAM (5 MB free), requires 2.6 MB hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM drive or faster required, monitor - 13 inch or larger color, 256 colors.
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or to see other math programmes
Disney Ready For Math with Pooh - ages 3-6
On Track Math Series - ages 3 -9
Reader Rabbit's Math - ages 6-9
Mia - Just In Time - ages 8 - 12
Carmen Sandiego Math Detective - ages 8-14
Neufeld - Understanding Math - ages 10-16
MathTrek Grades 7 & 8 - ages 12-14
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