Math, Technology and UDL: Closing the Achievement Gap

One of the first studies on a math app was conducted by USC Professor Michelle Riconscente  on Motion Math.  The results indicated that game play can boost kids’ confidence in and enthusiasm for academic subject matter.  Here is the research design and some of  the findings.

"The study evaluated whether playing Motion Math led to increases in children’s fractions knowledge and attitudes. Over 120 participants played the game for 20 minutes daily for five days, for a total of 1 hour and forty minutes of game play. Among the main findings were that fractions knowledge increased an average of 15%, and participants gained confidence in their fractions ability and reported liking fractions more after playing the game.

With hundreds of educational iPad apps on the market, it is important to know whether they help children learn, and whether iPad apps like Motion Math also contribute to children’s positive attitudes toward academic subject matter. Though much more research is needed to test learning apps, and to discover ways to use them most effectively with a broad range of learners, this study marks an important step toward testing educational technologies with stringent research designs.

In less than two hours of game play distributed over five days, the app shifted the needle on participants’ understanding of a topic that has long eluded most learners."

Visual fractions tools and activities support whole class instruction, student practice and student investigations...