Mathletics

My little brother is in year 5 back in Japan and since I was teaching year 5 for my GPP, I often asked him what he did in school. He told me he did a lot of Mathletics and he really enjoyed it because he could compete with people from around the world.

I think Mathletics is a great way to get children to practice their skills and improve their arithmetic fluency. However, my brother also told me that he did a lot of Mathletics, Maths is Fun and similar activities where he would just answer questions to get points/coins. It was fun but when there was something he didn't know, he'd just read the hints and clues to find out the correct answer without really quite understanding the mathematics behind it.

I feel that although online math activities such as Mathletics can be a great resource, it is easy to fall into the trap of not doing enough teaching and exploring. I think that in schools, teachers should allow students to use practical resources and explore patterns, then do some whole class teaching, and then use websites such as Mathletics for homework where the students can practise the skills they have learnt at school.