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Helping children improve maths speed
MATH BLASTER 1 Requirements: 33MHz 386 256 colour Super VGA Windows 3.1 or higher 4Mb RAM 10Mb hard disk space Price: R285
MATH BLASTER 1 provides an enjoyable way for children aged six to 12 to practise basic maths. The user embarks on a rescue mission with a character called Blasternaut, whose sidekick, Spot, has been captured by the evil Trash Alien. With the help of the user, Blasternaut must collect all the trash left by the alien, convert it into fuel for his spaceship, track the Trash Alien to his home planet and rescue Spot. It sounds like any conventional computer game but there is a difference - in this contest mission progress can be made only by solving endless maths problems. In order to collect the flying litter, tractor beams must be earned by finding missing values in the sums on screen. Once you have earned enough beams you get a chance to zap some trash in true computer-game style. The trash collected is then sent to the number recycler for conversion to fuel. The more correct equations the user can make out of the numbers in the recycler, the more fuel goes into the tank. While this exercise stretches the mathematical thinking skills, I found it somewhat tedious. The spaceship is finally ready for take-off and pursues the alien to his planet where he disappears into an underground cave. Blasternaut must navigate through the rocky platforms in the cave by finding gaps where the number on his spacesuit can fit between platform numbers. This activity requires fast mental arithmetic as well as some dexterity with the mouse and is a definite hit from both an educational and an entertainment point of view. Finally, Blasternaut locates the Trash Alien's spaceship and must identify the correct answers in a multiple-choice quiz before the planet eclipses. The game offers six levels of difficulty and touches on all the mathematical operations as well as number patterns, estimation and fractions. It in no way provides full coverage of the South African school syllabus, and a player who scores well cannot automatically assume to be fully prepared for the next class test. There appears to be some inconsistency in the levels of play, and a user capable of level-six addition may well battle with level-two fractions. It is probably unrealistic to expect a child, particularly one who struggles with maths, to place Math Blaster 1 at the top of the favourite games list. However, there are few pupils who would object too strongly to half an hour of Math Blaster every day in lieu of the more traditional sort of maths exercise. Math Blaster 1 will not provide a complete solution for the child whose understanding of mathematical concepts is weak. However, it encourages the user to think fast and accurately, and regular play should help improve speed and mental arithmetic in a relatively painless way.
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