Peer Review

Agrinautica

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Oct 30, 2023 by Mathematics

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

Create as many mathematical expressions as you can for numbers, creating elements that you can collect: pictures representing plants, animals, fungi and minerals that you place on a planet that you terraform. Agrinautica is designed for 4th and 5th graders learning mathematical expression-building and order of operations, important pre-algebra skills.

Terraform planets by adding gorgeous plants, animals, fungi and minerals, each representing a unique mathematical expression.

Type of Material:

Development Tool

Software developed by MathSnacks™ played in the web-browser. Available in English and Spanish.

Recommended Uses:

Best used as homework after a first in-class presentation. A tutorial for teachers is available outside the game with alignment with standards and tips on how to use it.

It can also be used for individual, team and self-paced.

Technical Requirements:

This is a unity element embedded in an html page and should play on most platforms. It may not work on an android mobile phone.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The learning goal is to explore the different numerical expressions of numbers, mainly integer numbers through the four basic operations and parenthesis. Users are nudged into finding new expressions for numbers by producing new collectable elements that they place on their "planet" in a creative way. Achievements like "producing five different expressions for 0" unlock different levels.

It helps to build and enhance pre-algebra skills by building mathematical expression and order of operations.

Target Student Population:

Grade School 4-5th

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Basic Math:

Understanding well formed numerical expressions, dragging elements with the mouse, reading the feedback text.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

This tool demonstrates a core concept grounded in the discipline.

There is a real interest for users to discover as many expressions as possible. The computation of the expression is performed by the system so the students don't have to know at first how to compute them, but they definitely need to elaborate a strategy to attain their goal, of producing a well formed expression that evaluate to a target number.

Concerns:

A limitation might be that relative numbers or rational numbers, although they are computed and displayed as such (1/2, -3...), are not taken into account as something valuable but somehow discarded as "weeds". It is ok, focusing on small non negative integer numbers is the focus here.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The content is really interesting but strictly focussed on the very specific learning goal of simple numerical expressions, building on the persistance of students through creative game play, "terraforming" a planet by collecting items to setup a scene.

Visual feedback in the game helps players manipulate expressions properly, using order of operations.

Concerns:

It is not versatile, since it is strictly focussed on the very specific learning goal of simple numerical expressions.

It would be helpful to provide the student learning outcomes to identified the pre algebra skills.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

It is visually appealing.

It is very easy to use once you have understood the principle.

Concerns:

Not completely clear how to assess your achievement, what remains to be done in a particular "world".

Other Issues and Comments:: Part of other interesting MathSnacks™.
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