SMART math exercises for basic school pupils

The app is an easy-to-use math practice tool for pupils aged 10-13, who are in elementary/basic School (grades 5-6) to build up math skills, exercise creativity and critical thinking, sharpen the intellect and discover connections between different STEAM disciplines.

The app is intended to be used by teachers of mathematics to vary the traditional math lessons and present the mathematical problems in an innovative, student friendly and attractive way. The exercises contain real-life situations and gamification elements to make the learning process more appealing. To boost pupils’ motivation, an award system is used: for every correct answer the pupil gets a star. At the end all the stars are summed up to track the progress.

The app can be used as a supplementary tool both inside and outside the classroom to differentiate and individualize the teaching/learning process according to the students’ interests and their level of achievement.

The exercises under this app are divided into two categories, called “Math” and “Eureka”.

The exercises under the “Math” category have been developed to meet the Math teaching curricula of the basic school programs for grades 5-6. They present a variety of topics on the following areas:

numbers and calculations,

expressions,

equations and inequalities,

geometry,

measures and measurements,

There is no particular order in which the exercises should be performed, both teachers and students are free to choose any exercise from the list which suits their teaching/learning needs best according to the area of focus.

The exercises under the “Eureka” category present math problems interrelated with other STEAM disciplines: Science, Technologies, Engineering, and Arts. These exercises are intended to boost pupils’ critical thinking and creativity. They tasks are based on real-life situations to make the learning more relevant. Likewise in the “Math” category, there is no particular order to perform the exercises. The titles of the exercises and their pictures will help to choose the topic.

A considerable advantage of the SMART app is its intercultural context. All of the exercises and the instructions of how to use the app are available in 6 European languages: English, Greek, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Romanian.

In addition to this, the app offers a great opportunity for math teachers to design and develop math exercises on their own. To gain access to this option, a math teacher needs to register on the SMART EDIT platform https://smart-math-teacher.firebaseapp.com As soon as his request to join the platform is granted, he/she will be able to create, store and use the exercises of his own free of charge and without any time constraints. He/she will also be able to translate the existing exercises into their own national language.

The app is a result of the international project partnership which has worked in a consortium of 5 EU countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Greece, Poland and Romania) on the project “Smart Mathematics Teacher” under the Erasmus+ program Strategic partnerships for School Education.

This project has been funded, with the support from European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.