Parents' Guide to Smartick - Math for Children

App iPad , Chromebook Free to try Education
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Common Sense Media Review

Ashley Kemper By Ashley Kemper , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 5+

Super, subscription-based adaptive math practice.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 5+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 4+

Based on 10 parent reviews

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Unclear whether data are sold or rented to third parties.
  • Unclear whether data are shared for third-party advertising and/or marketing.
  • Data are collected by third-party advertising or tracking services.
  • Unclear whether this product uses data to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.

What's It About?

Kids open SMARTICK - MATH FOR CHILDREN to an assessment that gauges their math strengths and challenges. Questions follow based on how kids answer the previous ones and offer plenty of tries on problem types they miss. Questions include everything from basic arithmetic to long division to fractions. Some problems allow users to utilize manipulatives (units of ones, tens, hundreds, etc.), and some provide a read-aloud option (especially for younger users). Each correct answer earns kids stars ("ticks") that they can use in their virtual world upon finishing the assessment. Once they complete their time, kids are given the opportunity to go back and answer questions they missed and earn more stars. Parents or tutors receive data surrounding how their kids perform each day using the app. This data details time spent, types of correct or incorrect answers, and feedback for how to improve math mindsets.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 10 ):
Kids say : Not yet rated

The app delivers on depth and breadth of math problem types for the subscription cost. Combine that with the amount of information shared with parents after kids use the tool, and you have a winning combination. The gamelike features built in to each part of the app also encourage a love of learning math in even the most hesitant kid. For many problems, the tool will read the question and answer choices to kids, which can be incredibly helpful for those who struggle with reading word problems or reading directions carefully. One piece that may be missing is the opportunity for kids to see their mistakes and decide how they could fix them. If kids answer a question incorrectly, the correct solution pops up immediately, but it doesn't detail how kids got to their wrong answer, which is an important step in the learning process.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how we use math daily, especially to measure the world around us. Ask kids to think about how they share time with others. When they hear "you have 15 minutes left," how do they account for that time? What does it look like on the clock? Can Smartick - Math for Children help learn this skill?

  • Talk about how your math brain is always growing. Not every person loves math, but every person has the ability to learn how to solve math problems. Help kids understand that by making mistakes and correcting them, their brains are growing and learning how to solve them next time.

App Details

  • Devices : iPad , Chromebook
  • Subjects : Math : addition , algebra , arithmetic , fractions , measurement , patterns , subtraction
  • Pricing structure : Free to try ($50/mo., $90/two months, $135/three months)
  • Release date : March 15, 2017
  • Genre : Education
  • Publisher : Smartick
  • Version : 1.8.9
  • Minimum software requirements : iOS 8.0 or later
  • Last updated : April 11, 2019

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