Explain this
Perfect Times
How the publisher describes it:
“Perfect Times is designed to develop multiplication and division skills as well as recognition of multiples and factors and different types of number sequences - squares, cubes and triangle numbers, and so on.”
Review by Peter Hall
In brief:
This would be worth using for years 4 to 8 depending on their skill with the times tables. I’d love to try it with my lower ability year 11 students…
“I am not convinced that this game has enough staying power to maintain interest”
This product aims to perfect your understanding of the times tables. The emphasis is nicely balanced between speed and accuracy. It is possible to run this on a network, and create groups and individual student passwords – to enable the students to keep track of their performance.
Times tables can be tested individually so that the child can progress carefully without becoming overwhelmed. It is even possible to extend the program to tables beyond 12 or to include negative numbers.
Perfect Times operates through five different games. All work with the concept of playing cards with numbers on – either the question or the answer. It is possible to change the colouring of different answers according to their times table.
Times Up deals a set of answers and the user has to click on the appropriate answer as each question appears.
Matching Times is a speed game to help build up recognition skills. The user simply matches multiples to multiples, there is no actual memory of the times tables needed here, but this game would help build up speed.
Perfect Matching – is a pelmanism game. It can be played by one or two players.
Two Pack Challenge is an advanced version of Times Up, working with two sets of times tables at the same time.
The final game – Twirling Numbers – has the cards gently rotating so that one has only a limited amount of time to click on the correct solutions. It can be set to multiples (and is quite happy to give three digit numbers) or to sequences – such as square, prime, cube etc.
I am not convinced that this game has enough staying power to maintain interest, particularly for children to use it over a number of years as they learn their tables in the first place.
However, with a class working at the same time, keeping a record of their scores, and gaining rewards for improvement – or the high score of the week, then this could be just what is needed. The children would clearly gain much valuable practice – as long as their teachers could spare the time.
This would be worth using for years 4 to 8 depending on their skill with the times tables. I’d love to try it with my lower ability year 11 students…
