Purpose: An estimated five to eight percent of elementary school students have some form of memory or cognitive deficit that inhibits learning basic math. Researchers have identified several areas where children with math learning difficulties struggle. These areas include a strong sense of number facts needed to quickly and accurately perform operations on single digit numbers, the use of strategies to solve problems which have not yet been memorized, an ability to figure out whether or not an answer is reasonable, and self-monitoring to assess one's own efficacy and understanding. To support students with math learning difficulties in grades 1 to 4, this project team developed a series of applications (apps) for touch-screen tablets that encourage single digit operational fluency, conceptual understanding, strategy awareness, and self-understanding.

Project Activities: During the IES Phase I project, the team developed a prototype of a single digit addition game, following an iterative process incorporating feedback from teachers and students having difficulty with math. Nineteen students participated in a pilot study, and the researchers found that the prototype functioned well and that users were engaged by the game. In this Phase II project, the team built and refined the back-end system, designed and developed the teacher website, and created content for games in subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Teachley is a series of apps for touch-screen tablet computers to support math learning for first- to fourth-grade students with learning difficulties. In the game, students learn content through mini-lessons, engage with problems in practice and speed rounds, and then receive formative feedback on their performance. Students?use and manipulate blocks, linker tubes, number lines, and?interact with engaging pedagogical agents such as parrots and sloths. Students set goals, advance to more challenging levels, and engage in competition. The game is self-paced and provides individualized formative assessment scaffolding when students do not know the answer to a question. A teacher management system supports professional development and produces reports to guide instruction. The intended outcomes from gameplay include increased fluency, conceptual understanding, strategy awareness, self-assessment, and motivation of basic math.

After the teams completed development of Teachley, they conducted a randomized control trial with 83 students in grades 1 to 4, with 42 playing Teachley: Operations games and 41 using different math apps over a period of several weeks.

Related IES Projects: Think Facts Math Game for Single Digit Operational Fluency (EDIES12C0046)

Products and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Project Website: www.teachley.com

Video Demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hovNVXI9o34