I really liked this program, and so did the children who tried it with me. As an educational IT trainer, I have to come straight out and say that it does little with regards to the IT requirements, but it does achieve its aims to practice maths skills with children in a fun, interesting and inspiring way.
MathMania comes on a single disc and installs to a hard disc as soon as it becomes a registered copy. The manual is clear and the program is easy enough to use, being mouse driven (or via cursor keys if you wish). The gameplay is that one of four players is within a maze and must collect enough gold and a key before finding an exit. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are a teacher or parent!), a lot of the passages are blocked with sliding doors that only open (with a great Éwhooshæ sound) when a correct answer to a question is given.
Questions, as you have probably surmised, are based on mathematical areas including number (the four rules), shape and space, time, angles and measurement. The Élevelæ of questions can be controlled from a configuration panel or, indeed, by the children using the program, by pressing ALT and a number between 1 and 4. The manual explains that difficulty levels 3 and 4 are aimed at Key Stages 3 and 4 whilst levels 1 and 2 are for Key Stage 2.
There is a choice of six mazes, and although it might have been an improvement with random mazes created each time, it didnæt seem to concern the children that much. Maps of mazes can be provided on screen, or from photocopy masters which are provided in the pack. As the gold bars and key are placed randomly, pupils will still need to answer a good number of questions, even if they know the maze outline. Answers are given by clicking on a small on-screen keypad or by moving across a series of multiple-choice answers. Points are allotted for each correct question as well as for each gold bar collected. Be warned that it is possible to have a negative score, and when you do make an error, the correct response is not shown, so the program is definitely a revision tool rather than a learning one.
Once you have successfully collected gold and keys, you leave the maze to be given a challenge puzzle. These are more like a mathematical investigation and are presented in four forms Ö Sliding Block Puzzles, Tower of Hanoi, Fill it (a puzzle to make the same volume in two bottles from several different containers) and coins (a strategy game where you have to try and be the last one to pick up a coin). These can be played against the clock if you wish.
I thought some of the topic-based questions were sometimes a little difficult, as they expected knowledge that might not be present in all users (e.g. What length is a cricket pitch?, What is the standard unit to measure discs in?) but I could understand why they had been chosen. What I would have liked to see, which wasnæt provided, is a way of editing or adding your own questions to the data file. One of the difficulties of the program was a lack of clarity in the display of fractions, and even in the textual description of the puzzles, as they were red text superimposed on a black background.
The program keeps a careful record of the performance of the last player, giving statistics on each area attempted. It even has a high score table filled with some of the great mathematical minds of the ancient world, which is a nice touch. Both individual performance and high score can be saved, which would be the only way of comparing individual performances accurately.
The program runs as a single-tasking application but gives clear routes back to the desktop. I tried it on both A5000 and Risc PC machines and it behaved perfectly on both. The publicity says it Éis a great way to practise basic maths and problem-solving and knocks the spots off other maze games!æ, and I would tend to agree.
MathMania is available from Topologika priced ú25 +VAT (or ú28 through Archive). Primary site licence costs ú50 +VAT and secondary is ú65 +VAT from Topologika.áuá
