• Editor Rating

  • Rated 5 stars
  • Best of the Best

  • Quality
    Editor: 100%
  • Education
    Editor: 100%
  • Entertainment
    Editor: 90%
  • Value
    Editor: 100%
  • Child Friendly
    Editor: 100%

Review Summary:

Lumio Farm Factor does a great job of actually teaching the fundamentals of multiplication and division to beginning students.

[appimg 885060714]

App Info

Price: [app 885060714] {price}
AppStore User Rating: {stars}[/app]

Download on the App Store

Overview

Lumio Farm Factor: Multiply and Divide Basics uses hands on techniques to help young students understand how multiplication and division work. This app will not only help kids learn their facts, it will also guide them to a more complete understanding of these foundational skills.

Features include:

  • 2 stories and over 60 interactive problems in the full app
  • Teaches the concepts of multiplication and division
  • Uses models and arrays to clarify
  • Aligned to Common Core Standards
  • More complex problems unlocked gradually

Quality

Lumio Farm Factor is a high-quality app. Everything works as expected, and the interface is well-explained with visual demonstrations in the help screens. Users have a high degree of control over the experience in the protected “Settings” section, including the ability to deactivate web links and control the pace of offering more challenging levels.

Education

The makers of Farm Factor really hit the nail on the head when it comes to helping children understand the mechanics of multiplication and division. Memorizing the facts is important, but this foundational knowledge will help students succeed in elementary school and beyond. Farm Factor uses a very concrete system to demonstrate to students how multiplication and division “work.” The interface is as close to manipulating concrete counters as is possible with a digital device, and the makers have designed the app to provide the extensive repetition that most students need to truly master the concept.

Through the use of arrays and models, students get lots of exposure to the underpinnings of multiplication and division. The program has them splitting groups up into baskets and boxes, and also stresses how to actually think of multiplication. Instead of memorizing five times three, for example, students are taught to think of five groups with three in each group. This level of understanding will put students ahead of their peers and will help prepare their mathematical reasoning powers for even more abstract concepts later on.

Farm Factor also boasts an extensive explanation for parents in the protected section. It explains the importance of teaching multiplication and division in this particular way, outlines possible rough spots for students, and offers a selection of hands-on, real-world activities that parents or teachers can use away from the tablet.

Entertainment

Farm Factor: Multiply and Divide Basics is a fun program for students in elementary school. It features immediate rewards for each correct answer, and a graphic novel-style serial story that plays and episode after successful completion of several levels in a row. Successful completion also unlocks new levels, with up to thirty levels for each of the two operations. Students who can read are also treated to a printed reward phrase that is somewhat unique to the farm theme of the game; it’s not often that a person receives high praise like “Farm’s Finest” or “Rockin’ Radishes”! I do wish there was a more interactive reward or a collectible sticker set or something that might capture children’s interests for the long haul, but as is, the app is fun and entertaining.

Value

Lumio Farm Factor: Multiply and Divide Basics is a good value for elementary students who are beginning to study these two operations. The full version includes 30 levels for each operation that gradually become more complex and continually reinforce basic understandings of multiplication and division. For example, the app consistently reminds students that multiplication is “number of groups” times “number in each group.”

A free version of the app is available to download in the App Store, with one in-app purchase to unlock the remaining content. The free version includes the first 8 levels of both the multiplication and the division activities, as well as the first three installments of each of the two stories.

Child Friendliness

Farm Factor is very child friendly. The app has no outside advertisements. All links, settings, and information about the developer, other apps, social media and email are behind an effective parent gate. The app also has a feature that I truly wish more developers would incorporate: there is a master control in the protected settings section that allows parents to deactivate all links, everywhere within the program. This is a fantastic feature, and Lumio is to be commended for making parents’ jobs that much easier.

Lumio Farm Factor does a great job of actually teaching the fundamentals of multiplication and division to beginning students.

Editor rating
Rated 5 stars