Explain this
Maths Mansion
How the publisher describes it:
“The two CD-Roms in the series are based on the successful Maths Mansion television series in which children are trapped in a Gothic mansion by their host Bad Man until they can successfully meet a range of maths challenges. The second CD-Rom provides continuity and progression from the first.”
Review by Chris Hopkins
In brief:
This is a useful resource for children to work on individually or in pairs.
“The decimal point stayed firmly in place as the rockets took off.”
In the Maths Mansion some children are trapped in a Gothic mansion until they can successfully master a range of different maths challenges.
As you enter the Mansion you see a map from which you can choose to play games or to learn the maths. The presentation is imaginative and often adds to the mathematics rather than just being' sugar coating'. The mathematics in the games is almost always sound (though Fishy Fractions has an odd way of recording equivalent fractions). I liked the rockets each marked with a digit which the child had to move to the right or the left to multiply or divide by 10. The decimal point stayed firmly in place as the rockets took off. Feeding hungry penguins with red fish also worked well. Some fraction and decimal activities were more routine. The room where you can learn the maths has short video sequences on the maths topics.
This is a useful resource for children to work on individually or in pairs. The resources of Channel 4 ensure a very high standard and if you like their television series you will find this a useful and flexible resource.
Chris Hopkins • Roehampton University
Maths Mansion 1, 2 and 3
CD Rom for PC and Mac £100
Available from 4learningshop.co.uk
