Making Math’s Memorable With MathsRockx

Our son J is quite talented at Maths but seems to find memorising information, particularly his Times Tables fairly difficult.

I was therefore rather pleased when were recently asked to review the MathsRockx App, a program specifically designed to help children revise and to learn their Times Tables through combining Music and Maths.

The MathsRockx App

Music is massively beneficial to many aspects of children’s learning, the MathsRockx app uses Music to help trigger memories and to learn specific information. By combining Music, Maths and visual cues, the MathsRockx App offers children a stimulating platform to recall mathematical information.

Much like we often find ourselves singing along to those catchy tunes on the radio, children are able to absorb the information through listening and singing along to the app and then over time will learn their Times Tables much like they would learn a song.

What’s Included In The App?

Upon opening the MathsRockx app you are asked to enter your personal preferences such as whether you wish to refer to the subject as either ‘Math’ or ‘Maths’ and how you usually recall your Times Tables (for example whether you would say 1×12=12 or 12×1=12). The songs available on the app are then personalised to your preferences during use.

Should you wish to change the preferences set for another user you can do this easily through the simple, scroll down menu system by selecting either ‘Tables Sequence’ or ‘Terminology’.

Following entering the information you then arrive at the main menu, a colourful platform from which you can either:

• Why? – Learn more about the app itself through watching a video featuring Jo, the creator of the app.
• Quiz  – Test yourself upon the Times Tables using four different levels of difficulty.
• Times Tables – Listen to the times tables songs
• Playlists – Create or select playlists

There are eleven different songs that children can listen to, learning their 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 Times Tables. The MathsRockx app uses popular and catchy songs including:

1. Great Balls Of Fire
2. Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)
3. What Makes You Beautiful
4. So What
5. Counting Stars
6. Doctor Jones
7. Whats My Scene?
8. Born This Way
9. OMG
10. Dedication To My Ex
11. Happy

Each Times Table has an instrumental overview, this can help children reinforce their Times Tables without the prompt of the singer.

Following learning their Times Tables children can then test themselves upon their knowledge by using the Quiz which can be set to either beginner, medium, hard or expert level. Each level has a specific time limit for questions to be answered according to the difficulty.

Putting MathsRockx To The Test

J seemed to enjoy exploring the app and listening to the songs featured. However, when I suggested that he tried some of the quiz’s he seemed less interested. I think that the pressure of being tested upon his maths skills was a little overwhelming and may have been off-putting.

I think it may be worth playing some of the songs featured on the app as background Music whilst J is playing in the house and hoping that over time he might absorb some of the information from the songs which will hopefully help him to learn his Times Tables.

The app itself is very simple to use, and should you require any further information, there is also a FAQ and ‘Contact Us’ section included in a drop-down menu.

Learning Styles

I personally think that this app is ideal for children who enjoy learning through listening. However, being a Teacher I am very aware that there are a range of learning styles and as J is an kinaesthetic learner (he learns in a hands on fashion) he will probably find using physical objects to count with as a more effective tool for learning.

E, our three-year old daughter on the other hand is Music mad. She really enjoyed listening to the songs, she found the colourful user interface appealing and was happy to practice singing along to the app. She will probably benefit far more from this app as her learning style is more suited to this medium.

Prices & Availability

The MathsRockx App is available on both Android and Apple devices through either GooglePlay or The Apple App Store. MathsRockx currently retails at either £0.79 per times table or £7.99 for the full app.

To Summarise

I have installed the MathsRockx App onto both of the children’s devices and will continue to use this product.  Don’t get me wrong, MathsRockx is a fantastic App but I did find (as mentioned in the above review) that the MathsRockx app seemed to suit the more musically inclined. We are all different, we each learn differently and what works for one may not work for another.

I would definitely recommend this app, it certainly includes some seriously, catchy tunes which you and your children can have fun singing along to and in turn memorise your Maths!

For further information upon the MathsRockx App visit www.mathsrockx.com

Disclosure: We were sent the above product for the purpose of this post however all opinions are J’s and my own.