Mathigon

A beautiful, interactive twist on the classic math textbook

Learning rating

Community rating

Based on 1 review

Privacy rating

Expert evaluation by Common Sense

Grades

6–12

Subjects & Skills

Critical Thinking, Math

Price: Free
Platforms: Web

Pros: Beautifully designed and interactive courses give students a chance to fully engage with a wide range of math concepts.

Cons: A limited course catalog and lack of teacher dashboard (currently) limit its use.

Bottom Line: A front-runner for a new generation of textbooks -- if they finish their course catalog and add more teacher resources.

Mathigon functions much the same as a classic math textbook in the content it covers, but it presents the materials in a new, engaging, and exciting way for students. Teachers can use it to supplement their lessons (like a typical textbook), to highlight foundational subjects for students who may have gaps, to assign additional readings to those who want to learn more than what's in the curriculum, or to brush up on their own knowledge. Without a dashboard, teachers will have to find creative ways to monitor students' learning. 

 

Mathigon is an interactive take on the classic math textbook. There are mini-games, interactive elements, and problems to solve throughout the text to keep students engaged. Topics range from Divisibility and Primes to Differential Equations; other fun topics include Mathematical Origami. Mathigon provides definitions of words and places for students to answer questions directly in the text. Students must often show knowledge of concepts being taught before they're able to move forward. As students enter answers, an interactive bot named Archie gives real-time feedback and positive support and hints. Archie also provides fun animated GIFs to celebrate with students. 

The current content focuses on intermediate and advanced high school students, but foundational courses are being added with content from grades 6-8. The current catalog of content is somewhat limited, with only about 30 percent of the listed courses being available, but as additional content is added, teachers will be able to access more comprehensive resources for students across their classroom.

The Mathigon interface pulls students in and forces them to engage with the content in a meaningful way. The language used is appropriate for high school (and some middle school) students and explains the concepts in a straightforward manner. The interactive bot provides good feedback in real time, which makes students feel like they have a personal tutor as they go through the materials. The topics provided range from foundational skills to extended applications of math in higher learning and the real world. This diversity of topics gives students something to work toward and may pique their interest to discover what else they could learn. Once Mathigon's numerous "Coming Soon" courses are made available, it could be a great one-stop shop for a huge number of math topics. 

Learning Rating

Overall Rating
Engagement

By immersing students into the content and providing opportunities to interact directly with the material, Mathigon turns a typical textbook on its head and makes it fun and interactive.

Pedagogy

Though the content is limited, this great supplemental reference for math teachers helps add some interactivity to lessons, while also providing opportunities for students to learn many concepts on their own. 

Support

Currently, the supports for classroom use are the same as most textbooks, though they're working on a teacher dashboard. A helpful, interactive bot provides real-time feedback and positive support.

Common Sense reviewer
Pamela Brittain
Pamela Brittain Academic Coordinator K - 12

Community Rating

Great for higher level math courses.

I don't think of it as much of a teaching tool as I do an enrichment tool. I think it would best serve the gifted kid to dig deeper into the "why" of the topic.
I think more lower level math topics need to be made available to help other students as well.

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Privacy Rating

Data Safety How safe is this product?

  • Users can interact with trusted users.
  • Personal information can be displayed publicly.
  • User-created content is not filtered for personal information before being made publicly visible.

Data Rights What rights do I have to the data?

  • Users can create or upload content.
  • Processes to access or review user data are available.
  • Processes to modify data are available for authorized users.

Ads & Tracking Are there advertisements or tracking?

  • Personal information is not shared for third-party marketing.
  • Traditional or contextual advertisements are displayed.
  • Personalised advertising is not displayed.

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

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