Media Review
I have two Primary School kids at home now, and one of the biggest challenges I face as a mom at this phase is how to get them to enjoy studying. Don’t get me wrong – My kids are good kids and mostly self-motivated and conscientious in their work but there is always this one subject that they struggle with – math. And I totally understand because I struggled a lot with math myself as a kid! I know how difficult it is to enjoy studying a particular subject when we cannot even understand the basic concepts, and slowly, I lost interest and even became fearful in the subject. That is certainly not what I want to see in my kids.
When I was introduced to Brainy Arkies – a math mobile application designed for kids aged 6 to 12 – I thought it was ingenious. Like many kids of this generation, my kids are very savvy when it comes to mobile apps and games. It’s almost instinctive – They don’t need anyone to teach them how to play and score at the games, and if I let them, they can play the games all day and all night! Naturally, that is one of the most effective ways to reach out to them as well. I know of parents who keep their kids totally off mobile devices but I believe in tapping on technology to enhance my kids’ learning experience and that is where Brainy Arkies comes in.
Frankly, my kids were a little skeptical when I handed them my mobile phone and told them to try out the “new game” in my phone which will help them to learn math. This was the actual conversation that took place:
Joey: Are you serious, mom? After a whole day in school, you want me to do math now? Like, now??
Mom: It’s gonna be fun, Jo! It’s a game where you get to role-play as characters and conquer quests.
Jayne: So I got to do problem sums??
Mom: You will get to solve problems and level up in the game. Try it first!
Joey & Jayne: OK…………
As expected, the enthusiasm level was not high when I mentioned “math”, but the moment I opened the Brainy Arkies app and they saw the colorful graphics and music, their interest was immediately piqued! What the app does is to bring the kids on a journey of adventure and quests with in-app characters known as Arkies. While they are engaged by the fun conquering different levels, they are practicing math problem sums and deepening their understanding in the concepts. I think it says a lot about the app when I had to ask my kids many times before they were willing to put the phone down.
Here are 3 reasons why Brainy Arkies can help your kids learn math better (Tried & tested by my two kids!):
1. You Learn Better When You Play
That’s an old saying, but true in every sense of the word. My kids’ eyes instantaneously light up when I mention the word ‘game’. Instead of forcing them to memorize concepts and formulas (which often result in frustrated me and frustrated them), Brainy Arkies helps the kids do that with ease when they are solving the problem sums in order to level up in the game. Subconsciously, the understanding of the concepts are deepened during the playing process, and they tend to recall them much easier after that as well.
Developed by Marshall Cavendish Education and aligned to the latest MOE syllabus, Brainy Arkies offers guided solutions and instructional videos to facilitate self-directed learning. After every set of questions solved, my kids would be able to see which questions they have answered correctly or wrongly, and the kids can tap to see the correct solutions to those that they answered wrongly. Joey refused to do that though – She would go back and try the questions again until she got them correct! That is a good way of learning too, I say! =P
2. Enhances Your Kids’ Confidence
The learning content and solutions in Brainy Arkies are personalised based on each kid’s learning progress and abilities. It adopts an adaptive learning technology which adjusts to the child’s proficiency in solving math’s questions. That is to say, if the kid gets many of the questions wrong, less complex questions will be given subsequently so that he can start getting more correct answers and regain his confidence as he goes along. This eliminates the sense of helplessness and negativity in the subject. On the other hand, if a kid attempts a set of questions of medium difficulty and gets them all correct, he will get increasingly difficult questions as he goes along. In this way, the app gives them an upper hand because they get to try and practice more challenging problems as they go along – It is always good to challenge the kids in this manner to keep their confidence and interest level.
I like it that the app promotes this notion of “It’s OK, try again.” - That is the spirit that I want to instill in my kids, not just in math, but in life as well. There is this great sense of fulfilment when they level up and unlock new stages while progressing though the app, thus enhancing their confidence in the subject.
3. Helps In Daily & Regular Revision
When it comes to math, the best way to improve is really to practice and practice some more. The intuitive virtual environment allows the kids to learn while having fun, thus motivating them to learn anytime, anywhere. Because of this, Brainy Arkies is a great platform to get my kids to practice some math problem sums every day because they see it more like play time rather than revision time. I imagine getting my kids to do hardcopy math assessment papers every day – They will definitely rebel!
Brainy Arkies is available for both Android and iOS devices. It’s free-to-play and learn. The free version grants 20% access to math’s questions for P1 through P6. Paid subscription is available and unlocks 100% access to more than 18,000 math’s questions and in-depth analysis reports for parents. And this is really the reason why I think you should go for the paid version of the app! As parents, we can keep track of our kids’ progress through those in-depth analysis reports – We can see their performance by topics, time spent learning, math’s progress, etc. Based on that, we can then take steps to help our kids strengthen their weak areas and practice more problem sums for specific topics. As a mom, I absolutely appreciate this feature – It helps me to target my kids’ weak areas and be more focused in their revision. Very helpful!
Brainy Arkies is really a great tool to encourage kids to be interested in Math and helping them to grasp complicated concepts with the use of colourful graphics, games and quests. Give the app a try and download it on Apple Store or Google Play today! To unlock acess to all 18,000 Math’s questions and in-depth analysis reports for parents, go for the paid version! It’d be well worth it! Subscribe now to enjoy up to 40% discount!
Exclusive Additional Discount!
Good news! Marshall Cavendish Education is providing exclusive Brainy Arkies subscription offers to encourage you to give the edutainment mobile app a try for your children’s Math’s development. Use this code to redeem your additional discounts now! –>
Promotional offer:
1. 6 Months Subscription: Use code KLBA10 for an additional 10% discount
2. 12 Months Subscription: Use code KLBA20 for an additional 20% discount
