ZooWhiz
By Mieke VanderBorght,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Go wild at the zoo with math and language lessons, rewards.
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this website.
Community Reviews
Based on 1 parent review
encyclopediadramatica.es is great for kids
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What’s It About?
ZOOWHIZ is a comprehensive math and language arts website with a zoo theme. Kids choose an avatar and go to \"Learn and Earn,\" where they (or a parent) choose a subject (math, words, or reading), an age level, and specific learning topics (for example, numbers, calculations, and problem solving) before starting the learning activities. Kids earn coins, which they can use at the store to buy animals for their zoo or at the arcade to play games. Parents set an \"age floor\" so activities are not too easy, and both kids and parents can always see progress in each specific learning topic in a learning chart.
Is It Any Good?
ZooWhiz boasts a fun, creative, and appealing premise that offers a welcoming learning-themed environment. Kids will be motivated to complete learning activities so they can populate their zoos or have fun at the arcade. The learning activities are mostly drill practice or quizzes, which make them more useful for review than for learning something new. Unfortunately, the fun (buying animals and playing in the arcade) feels separated from the learning. For example, learning activities have graphics and sometimes present silly situations, but they still just feel like jazzed-up drill practice. Also, with 17,000 learning activities, they can't all be good! Some are clever and right-on, but others lack clear instructions or have ambiguous educational value. Sometimes quality is better than quantity. The options for customization are really nice. They allow kids to really focus on areas that are relevant to their personal learning needs.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Talk about the different animals your kids purchase for their zoos as well as all the math and language lessons they've been learning.
Discuss with your kids how learning can be fun, all on its own, without the reward of playing arcade games. Would they want to do these activities if there weren't rewards to look forward to? Why, or why not?
Website Details
- Subjects: Language & Reading: letter or word recognition, naming, phonics, reading, reading comprehension, spelling, text analysis, vocabulary, Math: arithmetic, counting, equations, fractions, geometry, graphing, grouping, measurement, numbers, patterns, probability, ratio
- Genre: Educational
- Topics: Wild Animals
- Pricing structure: Free, Paid
- Last updated: November 5, 2015
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