A great tool which allows students to practice math skills.

I think that this is a great app for drill and practice. The students are motivated by the rewards and it makes them want to practice more. My students also loved being able to see what things would make the rocket fly higher. There are several math apps out there that do the same thing so it all depends on how your students respond to each one. My students LOVED being able to build a rocket and launch it (especially my boys). I like that I can differentiate based on a students needs (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division). I wish that there was more ability to differentiate how difficult the problems are. But given that the app was free for me, it is definitely a good tool to have.

Mathmateer is ostensibly an app for practicing math concepts. Students build rockets, then fly them as high as they can. When the rocket reaches it's highest point and begins the slow fall back to Earth the student answers math questions by touching answers floating on the screen. Students take a great interest in building the coolest, most interesting, or silliest rocket they can; spending at least half their time building the rockets rather than practicing the math. That does change slightly in the older classes. I like the creative way the practice sessions are "timed". Student have until the rocket falls back to Earth to answer the questions, so they don't realize they are being timed. In order to truly provide a solid learning experience the app would need to incorporate the math practice into the rocket building instead of making them two separate pieces to the app.