Making Multiplication Fun!
A Review of Multiplication Tour with Mike and Spike
Jackie and Kristina Wheeler
This is a really fun and creative math package. Designed for 7 to 9 year olds, thissoftware combines creative settings in far away places, imaginative games, and two ofthe coolest math characters you'll ever find: Mike and Spike. Mike and Spike play in aband and get requests from all over the world to play. Children select where Mike andSpike will play and they get to choose either step-counting or multiplication facts. Usinglively rock music, rhythm, and animation, children are challenged with games, puzzles,and activities, while proceeding at their own pace.
* Step-counting helps children practice counting in different cultural contexts -- stepcounting 10's in Congo, 4's in Kenya, 6's in Zimbabwe, 8's in Egypt, and so on. The goalis to reinforce the concept of "groups of."
* Players can also attend Mike and Spike concerts in New York, Hawaii, Mexico, orBrazil to learn and practice multiplication facts from 0 to 12.
* Finally, children learn to solve story problems in concert settings in Ireland, France,Japan, or Australia. Here, children practice analyzing information, applyingmathematical operations and solving word problems. (Remember word problems?...)
This package makes use of frequent rewards to reinforce learning. As children proceedthrough the activities at each level, they are rewarded for finding the correct solutionwith an opportunity to proceed to a new game. They can test their own knowledge andaccumulate points. Only those who complete all 3 levels will earn a place in the Hall ofFame! Mike and Spike encourage children with supportive comments, to help motivatethem and improve their learning.
This package contains a fairly comprehensive booklet on the software that includes ateacher's guide, explanations of all the activities, words to the songs, and even a Hall ofFame certificate.
Multiplication Tour with Mike and Spike presents basic multiplication skills in anentertaining manner, with plenty of repetition. Progressive lessons build confidence aswell as skills and knowledge. When children give incorrect answers, they are advised ina humorous and gentle way and encouraged to try again. Lessons proceed in a logicalfashion, and the amusing Mike and Spike, let children know when they are ready to moveto the next level of difficulty. The essential ingredients to this successful package arerepetition, active learning, and reinforcement.
This package does contain a control panel for parents and teachers to help control themechanics of the program such as restricting lessons, changing the proficiencyrequirements of the players, and maintaining the list of players in the tour. However, itdoesn't offer the ability to select "levels" of playing. Kristina just turned 7 and this washer first exposure to multiplication. If I could have selected a beginner level where shewas only exposed to problems of 3 and under (ie 1x3, 2x2, 3x0, etc.) it would have beenmuch less frustrating to her. In one game she's step counting by 2s and in the next by12s. Too much variation in level of difficulty!
Overall, this is a game that Kristina enjoys a lot. She is excited to be learningmultiplication (ahead of her classmates), but because she is still mastering addition,many times this game gets too difficult for her and she ends up just guessing. Again,having the ability to select playing levels would solve that problem and really give her aheadstart on learning multiplication. Because of the solid design of this program, the funactivities, and the learning value, we give it 2 thumbs up!
School House Scorecard
| Product: |
Multiplication Tour with Mike and Spike |
| Company: |
Panasonic Interactive Media Company
|
| Cost: |
$29.99 |
System Requirements:
Macintosh:
68040/25, 8MB RAM, Graphics: 640x480x256,
Double Speed CD-ROM drive, System 7.1 or greater,
Speakers or headphones, mouse.
WINDOWS:
486, 8MB RAM, Double Speed CD-ROM drive,
SVGA 1MB Display + (640x480x256 colors),
Soundblaster-compatible sound card,
speakers or headphones, mouse.
Runs best with Windows 95.
Breakdown:
Ease of Use 3
Learning Value 4
Entertainment Value 3
Graphics 3
Sound 4
Overall Score:
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