Lattice Multiplication

by Esa Helttula

Has your son or daughter come home from school asking for help with their math homework?  When you review it, do you sometimes feel slightly confused with the “new” approaches that your child is being taught.   Concerned that you won’t be able to support your child during their nightly homework routine?  All you can hear is your child saying, “I just don’t get this strategy of lattice multiplication.” While you are thinking to yourself, “whatever happened to the normal way of solving multiplication problems; lining up columns, recalling your multiplication number facts, carrying over the tens, and wrapping it up with addition.” With all these questions comes answers. Lattice multiplication is a method of multiplying large numbers using a grid.  Although this lattice multiplication strategy may seem different from the traditional ways of teaching, it is in reality equivalent to solving long multiplication.  When using this method it breaks the multiplication process into smaller steps, which some students find easier.  Have no fear, approaching math in this manner should not cause you to call for a tutor.  Your tutor can come in the palm of your hands as your child(ren) or student(s) learn and reinforce this mathematical skill with their mobile device.  From the developers of many well known educational math apps, Esa Helttula has been improving upon her design of Lattice Multiplicaton.

With a very simple design that is customizable for each mathematician, users will be pleased with the step by step visual approach and its ability to challenge students in a variety of ways.  Those using the application on an iPad might find it helpful to rotate your device.  By doing this, the orientation of the problem will change slightly.   Depending on the users learning style, one direction may be more appealing than the other.  For a teacher, the Lattice Multiplication app will intrigue many as it aligns with a number of mathematic programs currently in schools.  There are several features that Applicable2U loves about this educational app. As my students or even my son games for reason, we enjoy the fact that there are no adds incorporated, that in order to be challenged an in-app purchase isn’t required, wrong answers are not penalized and that a user can take their time to grasp and comprehend the math concept being presented.

Whether you are the teacher, a homeschooler, or the actual student integrating this application, it is important to establish your settings  prior to exploration.  Within the settings button, users can alter a variety of modes, however, when making these changes, be sure that you understand certain math vocabulary terms such as: multiplicand, multiplier, and operands. As you select new options, watch the problem design change in the background. For friends with color impairments, Esa Helttula has that covered, simply alter the screens background color to black, white or sepia.  If users feel that the animation of step by step directions is moving too fast, simply change the animation speed.  These academic accommodations alone has Applicable2U giving the Lattice Multiplication app a standing ovation.

Lattice Multiplication will fit nicely in a multitude of ways at home and in school.  Use this application for one to one instruction or use it in a whole group setting while your iPad device is connected to a projector.  As you incorporate your device, the projector and this educational app, your math class will feel as though they have an interactive whiteboard now in their presence.  Through our exploration, we noticed that the bank of questions or possible combination of numbers was endless and there did not appear to be the same problem twice.  Although this was the case, users can create their own problems by selecting the “set” button.  By double tapping inside each box, teachers, parents or students can build their own question set.  This is a nice feature as the Lattice Multiplication app can now be customized and used in the classroom to go over homework problems done at home.  In addition, to guide users, grids are pre-drawn, the multiplicand and multiplier are arranged around the grid for the players, and circled numbers are available when doing simple multiplication facts and adding. Through the use of highlighting, bigger problems  won’t seem so intimidating as you solve smaller operations.  Immediately, users are aware if they made an incorrect or correct tap of a number.  Those correct will move into place within the grid, however, those incorrect answers will simply sit at the bottom of the page, indicating an alternate solution is to be picked.  As the grid is filled inside, users will move from solving multiplication problems to solving simple addition problems.  When adding multiple numbers, it is important for late elementary players to use such strategies as finding combinations of 10.  At the completion of the problem, those numbers around the left side and bottom of the grid will magically appear as a completed number sentence.  A note to the developers – was there a particular reason that commas were left out?  Academically, Applicable2U would love to see a comma incorporated in the final solution.  This will reinforce place value and the ability to read large numbers.

Lattice Multiplication may seem foreign to many, but after practicing this approach on your mobile device, math will become a great deal easier. If math is a struggle for your child(ren) or student(s), then why not clear up those mathematical frustrations by downloading Lattice Multiplication to your Apple device.  Does your elementary student have other areas of math concern, then you will want to visit   Esa Helttula’s website here as she has 15 additional math applications in the Apple Store that will provide your child a number of “a ha” moments. You will not regret having paid $3.99 for Lattice Multiplication, it’s a lot cheaper than those expensive tutors.  To begin downloading it today simply click here to access it in your iTunes library.

Reviewers website: www.applicable2u.wordpress.com

Tools 4 Students matches the expectations of its reviews in the app store. This is an awesome app for classroom use. It features 25 graphic organizers perfect for literature class or for use as a pre-write activity. Using a dongle the organizers can be modeled through a projector onto a whiteboard. Whether your charting the characters in Where the Wild Things Are or The Red Badge of Courage, the organizers in this app give students plenty of space to respond. Have students open the app on their iPod Touch or iPad and complete one of the organizers while they read. Buddies can share an iPad and work together. When they have completed the organizer they cam save it to the device and reopen later to use as a pre-write or they can email it to the teacher to be displayed or printed. The 25 organizers can be used again and again. I love the pastel colors that the organizers are created with - they add visual interest and are easy to write over. This app is a must for any grade 3-12 Literature class and could be used in history and science as well. My only improvement would be to add even more variety and incorporate some additional organizers specific to content areas such as math and science.

  Middle School Math 7th Grade

by Monkey in the Middle Apps, LLC

If you are familiar with what is available in the App Store as it relates to educational math games, many of them are focused towards the pre-school to late elementary years.  If however you are a parent, an educator or both, that has middle school students or children then maybe you are in need of something more appropriate for your Apple device.  Currently on the market is Middle School Math 7th Grade by new developers Monkey in the Middle Apps.  As you travel through various locations around the world with an animated monkey, the object of the game is to guide him sideways, up and down ladders with the tilting magic of your Apple device.  In order to get him safely down, it is your goal to answer a variety of algebraic expressions.  Through your middle schoolers exploration, they might make a real world connection as Middle School Math 7th Grade bares a slight resemblance to  the video game version of Donkey Kong.

Upon entering the application, you will notice that the main menu options are basic and to the point.  There is not a great deal of flashiness that needs to attract the audience.  In addition, when opening Middle School Math 7th Gradeyou will also notice that your Game Center app is queued up.  Your achievements and leader board stats will be stored in your Game Center account as it relates to your individual mobile device.  The initial download of Middle School Math 7th Grade is free and provides users with four mathematical topics to review: negative numbers as it relates to all operations (+,-, x, and /), absolute value and the orders of operation.  Within each academic level there are also three levels of difficulty.  Your achievements are presented numerically in banana icons within your Overall Ratings window.  A note to the developers – might it be possible to store such things as: About, Leaders, Achievements and such as a separate icon that users could tap on as an “on needed” basis.  By doing this, it would open the main screen a bit to present the Overall Ratings window a bit bigger. If over time, your middle school feels that they would like additional topics/questions to their Middle School Math 7th Grade application, there is an in-app purchase option of .99¢.

Middle Schoolers will be very quick to pick up on how to manipulate.  Simply choose a mathematical concept from your ratings window and the game will begin. It is important to note that players are timed, as the clock appears in the upper right hand corner of your screen. With a tilt to the left or right of your Apple device, navigate the monkey to the ladder.  As your jungle friend approaches the ladder, it will automatically slide down. Randomly while tilting and sliding down ladders, math boxes will suddenly appear with a numeric expression and four possible answers.  Simply tap the correct answer, answers that turn green are correct and those that turn red are incorrect.  With every correct answer, users will earn a banana token.  A final grade report is then generated, sharing your time and the number of bananas earned out of the total questions attempted.  If necessary, parents and/or educators can have grade reports emailed to them to explain where successes or difficulties may have occurred.  This report is also important as it can guide classroom teachers for future follow up instruction for a small or large group. From the point of view of both an educator and a parent, Applicable2U does have some suggestions that we would love to see in a future update:

1) When an incorrect answer has been chosen, students should see some kind of consequence.  If sending the monkey back up levels, then it is important to be consistent.  An alternative consequence could be adding a particular block of time to your final score as a penalty.

2) When problems appear, students are not pressured to complete in a particular amount of time, however, some students may require a scrap pad to solve.  It might be interesting to offer a notebook like icon which students could use as a calculator or to follow through with their step by step procedures in answering.  Their finger or even an appropriate mobile device stylus could be used as a pencil.  This would accommodate students of all learning modalities.

3) This is an educational math application, however, it might be interesting to add some level of challenges.  Such challenges may include obstacles that the monkey would need to jump over, swing across or things to collect along the way.  Although Middle School Math 7th Grade may be for young adults 12+, they still require some challenges along the way as they game for a reason.  The goal is to keep the player engaged and challenged academically.  With every wrong answer, supplemental questions of similarity should be presented.  For those consistently getting correct answers, problems should increase in difficulty.

Overall, Applicable2u believes that Middle School Math 7th Grade has potential.  Currently, they are reviewing suggestions by both parents and teachers on ways to improve their educational app.  A component that we have yet to see by other developers is the ability to build and load your own question sets via HTML code that Monkey in the Middle Apps provides via their website.  If you would like to learn more about Monkey in the Middle Apps, simply click here.  To begin climbing down your ladders of algebraic expressions,  simply click here to access Middle School Math 7th Grade  as a FREE download from your iTunes library today!

Reviewers website: www.applicable2u.wordpress.com

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