A Platform to Study Learning Games Awarded Grants
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 26, 2013 -- Motion Math, an educational software company creating conceptual mobile math games, today received grants from the Noyce Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop an educational assessment platform. The platform will correlate mobile math learning experiences to mastery of Common Core math standards, structuring an ecosystem for teachers and developers to continually improve individualized learning.
Mobile learning is achieving rapid growth in K-12 schools – almost 80% of K-12 district technologist surveyed this summer by IESD planned some form of tablet rollout in the next two years. Still, little research demonstrates the educational value of mobile apps. Motion Math’s fractions game was the first, and still one of the only, tablet educational apps to show a learning impact in a controlled study, recently published after peer review by the Games and Culture journal. The study found students playing the game for a week improved 15% in fractions estimation and 10% in attitudes towards math.
“The efficacy study taught us much about how our fractions game was working, and how we could improve it,” said Motion Math CEO Jacob Klein, “but proper efficacy studies take a long time and they’re expensive. It’s hard to use them in a rapid mobile development process.”
The grants will fund a platform pilot through June 2015 to address the need for developers to improve their products in a more cost-efficient way, and for teachers to find relevant, effective learning experiences.
“A lot of teachers recognize the enormous potential of mobile learning, but are rightly concerned about the lack of data about which apps are effective and under what conditions,” said Coram Bryant, Motion Math’s Head of Learning Analytics. “We’re excited to support a conversation between teachers and mobile developers who want to iterate and refine math software to be as engaging and as effective as possible.”
Mobile developers and elementary school educators using tablets who want to participate in the pilot should contact info(at)motionmathgames(dot)com for more information.
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About Motion Math, Inc.
Motion Math's mission is to help kids find delight in intellectual challenge. We take the central concepts of K-6 math and turn them into engaging games. Founded by engineers and educators from Stanford School of Education's Learning, Design, Technology program, Motion Math's suite of eight apps has received rave reviews, over 3M total downloads, 4 Parents' Choice Awards, a Spark Design award, and many others. Backed by a world-class group of investors, including Mitch Kapor, NewSchools Venture Fund, Ulu Ventures, 500 Startups, and Mike Wood (the founder of LeapFrog), and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Noyce Foundation, we've been featured in PBS's NewsHour, Time, WSJ, Forbes, and the NYT. http://www.motionmathgames.com
Jacob Klein, Motion Math, http://motionmathgames.com, +1 917 568 0176, [email protected]
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