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App review by Caryn Lix, Common Sense Education | Updated June 2014
Wizen World

Wizen World

Fun adventure game, but run-of-the-mill review of basic math

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Grades
3–8
Subjects & Skills
Math, Critical Thinking
Platforms:  Mac, Windows
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Take a look inside

4 images
Explore worlds and battle monsters to free meings.
Meings hatch as players proceed through levels.
Interact with NPCs (non-player characters) for advice.
Practice math facts playing a variety of games.

Pros: Fun design appeals to kids, encouraging them to practice basic math facts.

Cons: The math can feel tacked on to the game, and there are no options for students to interact with one another.

Bottom Line: Wizen World is a fun way to encourage kids to practice basic math, but it can't be used to teach anything new.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Wizen World is primarily useful for in-class review or homework. The game's ogre-catching adventure and overall visual appeal will definitely encourage kids to practice math at home. In class, the game would make a fun activity center or end-of-unit activity. Although kids can't see their classmates' activities, a teacher could create avatar names and post a top 10 scoreboard, or let kids see the five classmates above and below them.

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Standards:

Editor's Note: Wizen World is no longer available.

In Wizen World, students play games related to basic math topics (currently fractions, decimals, and numbers, although additional topics, such as geometry, are coming soon). Types of games vary by topic. For example, fraction games are retro 2-D adventure games in the style of Nintendo's Zelda: players wander the world attacking ogres and solving math problems to defeat them. In the decimal number-line game, players help a cute creature jump over water by placing decimals on a number line. The overarching goal of all the games is to free meings -- creatures the ogres have imprisoned -- by completing the games and solving the math problems to "hatch" the meings and help them regain their strength.

Wizen World is fun to play and visually appealing, and will definitely hold students' attention and come in handy for encouraging them to review and practice basic math. The math isn't really connected to the game, however -- it's a "stop the game to do a math question" variety of play -- and the number of topics covered is currently limited (although that's promised to change in the future). The game does provide good math review and practice, but kids won't learn anything they don't already know, no help is available for kids who struggle with concepts, and teachers can't assign different levels to individual students.

Overall Rating
Engagement

The variety of activities and visual appeal should gain and hold kids' attention.

Pedagogy

Gameplay is fun, but it's largely disconnected from the math.

Support

Instructions and tutorial videos make learning the system easy.

Common Sense reviewer
Caryn Lix Classroom teacher
See how we rate and review

Key Standards Supported

Number And Operations—Fractions

  • 5.NF.4

    Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.

  • 5.NF.7.a

    Interpret division of a unit fraction by a non-zero whole number, and compute such quotients. For example, create a story context for (1/3) ÷ 4, and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient. Use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that (1/3) ÷ 4 = 1/12 because (1/12) × 4 = 1/3.

  • 5.NF.7.b

    Interpret division of a whole number by a unit fraction, and compute such quotients. For example, create a story context for 4 ÷ (1/5), and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient. Use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that 4 ÷ (1/5) = 20 because 20 × (1/5) = 4.

  • 5.NF.1

    Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators (including mixed numbers) by replacing given fractions with equivalent fractions in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or difference of fractions with like denominators. For example, 2/3 + 5/4 = 8/12 + 15/12 = 23/12. (In general, a/b + c/d = (ad + bc)/bd.)

  • 4.NF.3

    Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1/b. a.

  • 4.NF.3.c

    Add and subtract mixed numbers with like denominators, e.g., by replacing each mixed number with an equivalent fraction, and/or by using properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.

  • 4.NF.3.d

    Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having like denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.

  • 4.NF.4.a

    Understand a fraction a/b as a multiple of 1/b. For example, use a visual fraction model to represent 5/4 as the product 5 × (1/4), recording the conclusion by the equation 5/4 = 5 × (1/4).

  • 4.NF.1

    Explain why a fraction a/b is equivalent to a fraction (n × a)/(n × b) by using visual fraction models, with attention to how the number and size of the parts differ even though the two fractions themselves are the same size. Use this principle to recognize and generate equivalent fractions.

  • 4.NF.2

    Compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators, e.g., by creating common denominators or numerators, or by comparing to a benchmark fraction such as 1/2. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

  • 4.NF.5

    Express a fraction with denominator 10 as an equivalent fraction with denominator 100, and use this technique to add two fractions with respective denominators 10 and 100.4 For example, express 3/10 as 30/100, and add 3/10 + 4/100 = 34/100.

  • 4.NF.6

    Use decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100. For example, rewrite 0.62 as 62/100; describe a length as 0.62 meters; locate 0.62 on a number line diagram.

  • 4.NF.7

    Compare two decimals to hundredths by reasoning about their size. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two decimals refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual model.

  • 3.NF.1

    Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

  • 3.NF.2

    Understand a fraction as a number on the number line; represent fractions on a number line diagram.

  • 3.NF.2.a

    Represent a fraction 1/b on a number line diagram by defining the interval from 0 to 1 as the whole and partitioning it into b equal parts. Recognize that each part has size 1/b and that the endpoint of the part based at 0 locates the number 1/b on the number line.

  • 3.NF.3.b

    Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3). Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

  • 3.NF.3.d

    Compare two fractions with the same numerator or the same denominator by reasoning about their size. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

The Number System

  • 6.NS.1

    Interpret and compute quotients of fractions, and solve word problems involving division of fractions by fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem. For example, create a story context for (2/3) ÷ (3/4) and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient; use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that (2/3) ÷ (3/4) = 8/9 because 3/4 of 8/9 is 2/3. (In general, (a/b) ÷ (c/d) = ad/bc.) How much chocolate will each person get if 3 people share 1/2 lb of chocolate equally? How many 3/4-cup servings are in 2/3 of a cup of yogurt? How wide is a rectangular strip of land with length 3/4 mi and area 1/2 square mi?

  • 6.NS.6

    Understand a rational number as a point on the number line. Extend number line diagrams and coordinate axes familiar from previous grades to represent points on the line and in the plane with negative number coordinates.

  • 6.NS.3

    Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

  • 7.NS.2.a

    Understand that multiplication is extended from fractions to rational numbers by requiring that operations continue to satisfy the properties of operations, particularly the distributive property, leading to products such as (–1)(–1) = 1 and the rules for multiplying signed numbers. Interpret products of rational numbers by describing real-world contexts.

  • 7.NS.3

    Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the four operations with rational numbers.

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