Resource Review: Sumdog
At a glance
- Fun interactive maths games that children can’t wait to play
- Complete curriculum coverage for KS3 including Progression Framework
- Adaptive questions, tailored to individual levels with auto-marking
- Easily differentiate practice for groups or individuals
- Engaging evidence-based learning
- Blend whole-class, individual, and small group work
- Fits with existing teaching strategies
There has been a steady positive research stream referring to the high potential of games as an educational instrument in maths education.
The idea behind Sumdog is to accelerate pupils’ maths growth, quickly develop fluency and build their confidence.
With regular use, research has shown Sumdog to have high impact so it doesn’t just bark, it has real bite too.
And there’s the key – repetition.
Sumdog is cleverly constructed so that learning is reinforced by alternating and revisiting topics so that fluency is strengthened.
But students won’t repeat an experience if it isn’t enjoyable and this is where Sumdog excel by providing highly motivating games they keep wanting to play.
They also keep students engaged because they are tailored to their ability level and so the questions adapt to ensure an appropriate level of challenge is set. Furthermore, students can pitch their mathematical wits against a robot, their classmates or uers from other countries.
This personalised practice is crucial in keeping students interested as it feeds their confidence and they can see themselves making real progress and improving. Tracking individual progress is therefore very easy and you can quickly identify gaps for targeted intervention.
You can use quiz-style and auto-marked assessments along with an instant reporting feature to quickly identify gaps so you can demonstrate impact and target intervention.
Another important feature of getting students mathematically hooked is to reward them for their efforts. Sumdog ensures they get the recognition they deserve for getting the right answers and showcasing their skills as well as providing information about incorrect responses.
Sumdog is easy to use and once up and running and you are familiar with the admin side of things, you could feasibly set up work for your whole class in a couple of minutes, that’s three groups working at different levels too.
Setting work isn’t onerous with the Sumdog system at all and with just a few clicks you can focus on the skills your children need to hone in on by selecting the specific skills, topics and years groups as appropriate.
The benefits of using Sumdog are many and varied. They can make practice more enjoyable and successful, enrich vocabulary, introduce new ideas, allow for individual differences, develop positive attitudes towards maths.
They allow students to operate at different levels of thinking and they provide opportunities for building self-concept and developing positive attitudes towards maths through reducing the fear of failure and error.
Sumdog is a very effective facilitator and motivational tool for improving maths skills, improving fluency and can make a positive impact on student’s problem-solving skills and engage them in more sophisticated mathematical thinking.
It can also help to improve their cognitive abilities such as multitasking and visual short-memory.
The verdict
- Ideal for anytime play on smartphones, tablets, and computers
- Highly inclusive interactive games for both school and home
- An easier way to set targeted, differentiated practice
- No need for printed worksheets or marking
- Reduces workload with easy-to-set personalised maths
- An easy way to evaluate progress accurately
- Brilliant for general practice, revision or tests
Upgrade if…
You are looking for engaging online personalised maths games that will increase mathematical fluency and give students more faith in their maths abilities.
Cost: visit Sumdog for a quote.