Teachers, this is what you tell the Principal when she hears rocket launches and explosions coming from your classroom.
Students, this is what you tell your parents when they ask why you are playing arcade games on your computer instead of using it for school work like the nice Intel and Microsoft children on television.
The primary purpose of Missile Math is educational. Really.
Decimal place value is a very important concept in basic mathematics. It is part of the common language of mathematics that is necessary for understanding nearly every subsequent topic.
However, some students don’t appreciate the future benefits they will derive from familiarity with decimal place value. In fact they are skeptical that they will ever really need to know this stuff after the test. Teachers are stuck with a lame “You’ll need this in 3 weeks when we start...” You know the rest.
Missile Math was developed to give those reluctant learners a here-and-now reason for learning decimal place value names. Students can understand the need to know where to shoot flying snakes.
The predecessor to Missile Math, Surface-to-Air Math for the Apple II series, has been used successfully in elementary and junior high school classrooms for over 10 years. In many cases former place value skeptics have filled the computer lab after school trying to improve their scores.
Classroom Features
The “Settings” item in the “Options” menu allows the user to disable features that may be unwanted when using Missile Math in a classroom setting. One such feature allows the teacher to set a place value range for her students and disable student access to the “Range” item in the “Options” menu.
Normally, the New Game dialog allows complete editing of the Player List. However, teachers may want to enter student names outside of class time. In this event, the Settings dialog provides the option to disable the “New Player” and “Remove” buttons and thus turn off student access to Player List editing from the New Game dialog. This strategy prevents inappropriate names from showing up in the Hall of Fame.
The teacher can disable sound effects and student access to the “Sound” item in the “Options” menu if sound effects would be disruptive to other activities in the classroom.
Finally, access to the “Settings” item itself can be disabled from the “Options” menu. The “Settings” dialog can be retrieved whenever the menu bar is visible by using Cmd-T.
These measures are not meant as high-level security, but rather as a deterrent to mischief.
Tips For Teachers
Surface-to-Air Math, the predecessor to Missile Math, has been used successfully with students for many years. Although Missile Math is entirely new, the features it shares with the earlier game provide insight for the use of Missile Math in the classroom.
Students will want to use a place value chart or their text books while playing Missile Math. Let them. The pace in Missile Math is so frenetic that students don’t have time to “look up” answers. Typically, students look up a few stumpers initially, then rely on their memory as they try to improve their scores. That’s kind of the point. Isn’t it?
Some teachers are reluctant to permit students to play number-ranges that include place values in which the students have not received instruction. However, experience shows that if students do not know where the “hundred thousandths” place is, for instance, they figure it out by trial and error (shooting missiles at successive digits until one explodes) then remember that place value name. This opportunity for discovery learning is one of the most valuable features of Missile Math.
What to Say When Your Principal Asks Why You, the Teacher, Are Playing Missile Math Alone After School: “I’m reviewing some educational software.”
What to Say When Your Principal Asks Why You are Still Playing Missile Math Six Months Later: “I’m reviewing every level.”
Missle Math is copyright Thornley Jobe, 1996. The author may be contacted by e-mail at thornley_jobe@hbtpc.com.
