Do you have a middle school student who struggles with math? Do you struggle with getting your student to practice their math skills? If you do, check out StraightAce, a new app created by Benesse, one of the largest educational companies in the world.
StraightAce is an app that works on both Android and Apple devices, designed for students in 6th-8th grades. It is available through Google Play or the Apple App Store. It essentially works as a targeted tutor for your student in all of the Common Core Math Standards.
If you aren’t familiar with the Common Core Math Standards, these are the national standards that cover the topics that students learn in math classes across the country. This means that StraightAce covers the exact same topics that your student is learning in school! Each topic has a lesson, questions, hints and explanations that go along with it.
As a former remedial math teacher, my first interest was whether or not the content was in line with my expectations. I can tell you without reservation that StraightAce does not disappoint! The content is high quality, and offers targeted practice on one particular skill. This will allow a student who is struggling in a particular topic to engage in targeted practice on that exact topic.
StraightAce is Easy and Fun for Students to Use!
We downloaded StraightAce onto my Iphone. It was easy to download and sign up for an account – I had it up and running within 10 minutes. It does take a little time to update and build the library of topics, but it didn’t take long. My daughter is in 6th grade, and I am fortunate that she is gifted in math and enjoys it. However, she can become bored if she isn’t challenged. One of the great features of Straight Ace is that it allows students to work at their own pace – so she can move quickly through topics she understands and spend longer on those she doesn’t. She can even choose 7th or 8th grade topics if she wants!
As you can see, StraightAce is bright and engaging. The app was extremely easy for my daughter to review. She decided to work on the topic of ratios – a topic which she had superficially covered at school. She quickly discovered a great feature – a touchscreen “notepad” that pops up to allow students to work by “writing” with their finger while still viewing a question.
First, she viewed a lesson. The lessons are short and manageable chunks of information. Then, she wanted to try some of the questions, which are presented in a multiple choice style format. Here is one of the questions that she did:
As you can see, StraightAce offers a hint if a student is confused, and also has an “Ask” feature, where your student can send you a message to ask for help! This is a great pairing with the mobile feature of StraightAce – students can study anywhere or anytime using their mobile devices, but can still alert you if they need additional assistance with a concept.
Also, if students get a question wrong, they receive an explanation that shows them why:
There are so many awesome features of StraightAce. In addition to the excellent content, it is mobile, and best of all – FUN! You won’t have to fight with your student to study math if they can pull out their Ipod or phone to do so! It is engaging, and my daughter proclaimed it as “a really cool app”, which is a pretty high endorsement from a middle schooler! StraightAce is also very affordable, with subscriptions for $14.99 per month.
As both a teacher and a parent, I highly recommend StraightAce!
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