BrainRush

Quiz games are responsive but too rote

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Expert evaluation by Common Sense

Grades

K–12

Subjects & Skills

Character & SEL, Critical Thinking, English Language Arts, Math

Great for

Assessment, Differentiation

Price: Free
Platforms: iPhone, Linux, Mac, Windows, Web

Pros: Practice sets are adaptive so each student's experience is individualized.

Cons: It's little more than a flashcard tool, leaving students to memorize facts and then take quizzes.

Bottom Line: BrainRush can provide a spot fix for reinforcing basic facts and vocabulary, but this won't develop students' thinking or build new skills and could be a huge let down given its game-based branding.

Despite its shortcomings, BrainRush does have some useful applications in the classroom: It would be an effective study tool when information is mostly memorization based (diagrams, vocabulary, math facts, and so on). It's also useful for providing kids with some variety when learning basic facts, which can become boring if the same approach is used over and over. BrainRush lessons could also be assigned to individual students who want to move on to a more advanced level of study -- or need help catching up on the basics.

At BrainRush, teachers assign students activities from a huge library of standards-mapped choices; students then log on and work through their assignments. Several different types of activities -- flashcards, hot spots, sequencing, and categorizing -- are included in the massive collection, but each works the same way: students review the topic, whether it's a science diagram, multiplication facts, or parts of speech, until they feel confident they know the information. They then test themselves on what they know through an interactive quiz. BrainRush adapts to each student, so if a student is doing well, questions become more difficult and the allotted time becomes shorter, and vice versa. Students earn "genius points" for mastering a concept, although these don't really have any significance.

Its easy-to-access organization is BrainRush's best feature. Teachers can search thousands of lessons by keywords or tags (often Common Core standards) or create their own lessons with the easy interactive tool. The responsiveness is also excellent, allowing students to progress at their own pace without the distraction of unequal partnerships one might find in traditional study groups or flashcard activities. Beyond that, while BrainRush may help students memorize some basic information, such as vocabulary or math facts, it won't encourage any kind of critical thinking or creativity and feels like old school pedagogy. In addition, when it comes to more complicated concepts, BrainRush's straight memorization route isn't likely to help students transfer the information to the real world.

 

Learning Rating

Overall Rating
Engagement

The activities are simplistic and don't get students thinking creatively.

Pedagogy

BrainRush adapts both difficulty and topic frequency based on the user's progress, meaning students receive individualized experiences; however, they're just memorizing basic facts.

Support

There are examples along the way for clarification. Teachers can assign lessons, and adaptive activities help students along. 

Common Sense reviewer

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Privacy Rating

Data Safety How safe is this product?

  • Users can interact with trusted users.
  • Users can interact with untrusted users, including strangers and/or adults.
  • Profile information must be shared for social interactions.

Data Rights What rights do I have to the data?

  • Users can create or upload content.
  • Unclear whether users retain ownership of their data.
  • Unclear whether this product provides processes to access and review user data.

Ads & Tracking Are there advertisements or tracking?

  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Unclear whether this product displays traditional or contextual advertisements.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.

Continue reading about this tool's privacy practices, including data collection, sharing, and security.

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