Math Prodigy

@Mothersnakes Ha! It’s because I was hesitant at first myself. But this buy in has been around for some time. It’s all good

All of those “benefits” are exactly what are in regular video game “DLC Season Passes” and how “pay-to-win” mobile games.

What they are really saying here:

Level up 50% faster

The premium memberships are optional and not required to play Prodigy.

@mike808 Absolutely correct. I did not include all aspects of this as I was just being lazy. Kids and schools can play free accounts. But for $15 and because my son’s school continues to use this I was willing to pay $15 for a year, but never ever $60.

BLAME @tinamarie1974
Timed out on the edit trying to quote from the prior post which you can’t do with the popup overlay on mobile.

@mfladd In that sense, yeah, it’s a deal. Just disappointing as a parent that this is the state of learning where we “lean in” to our childrens’ ignorance disability deficiency of knowledge by “gamifying” everything and experimenting teaching with methods different from the methods that taught the “greatest generation” … just because they’re different, not because they didn’t … actually work.

“No child left behind” has been fully realized and “transformed” by “innovators” and “disruptors” into “No child shall get ahead”. Because we clearly must now be living in a country where all of our children are above average. 'Murica!

@mike808 Agreed, on the state of learning. I don’t even know why they had to create “new math”. It’s exhausting, and makes no sense to me.

@mfladd It is to meet the NCLB mantra and the “every child has their own path to learning” combined with talk of racial/geographical/social/economic biases on both sides that we teach kids using white/black/brown/urban/rural “us vs. them” centric methods.

Since teaching one method would be efficient at many, many levels, the problem becomes resolving the inherent discrimination that requires. And since we are incapable of depolarizing that issue and … be united in addressing it, the lazy solution that gives everyone political and blame-free cover is to teach all the methods, not impose any discriminatory biases, and spend 5 times the classroom time to learn 1 thing 5 different ways. That requires more training for teachers and more teachers (i.e. more funding which is a whole 'nuther scam of the 1% creating the underfunding to start with) to end up with the net result of actually having to deliver less education with more time (since you’re repeating the same learning with multiple methods).

See how dysfunctional the system gets when you throw out the scientific method of actually measuring things that are then called “facts”? But hey, who gives a f*ck when your retweets and followers are up?

@mike808 i cannot accept this blame. It is in the wrong thread. Sorry, not sorry.

@mfladd @mike808 What’s not included in that list of features?

• learn more math

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a hell of a business model. Develop a freemium educational game and get a bunch of school systems to pimp it for you. And gamification of learning is not bad, we did Mavis Beacon Teachers Typing when I was a kid and it was far better than learning at a typewriter. And the Oregon Trail taught me about dysentery. But all those benefits of collecting all the pets and leveling up faster just don’t seem to translate to knowing math better in the end. Providing premium educational services to those who pony up for a membership also seems to widen the gap the new education seeks to eliminate as well, not that that is working.

Although I guess if the child is incentivized to play more and therefore learn more, the increased skill level will follow. And 75% off is a good deal, which was the point of the post. So carry on, just keep it off my lawn.

@djslack @mike808 Exactly. Unfortunately, this is the learning model offered by the school system. I don’t know if you have children, or what age they are, but have you had to experience their “new math” yet? The way they even learn math is totally foreign and not what we experienced. I hate it.

@djslack @mfladd The “new math” is how you “innovate” and “disrupt” education - and make a name for yourself in the field. This is the same BS from computer science where every professer “invented” their own diagramming (flow charting) symbology and even programming language - under the lie of “advancing the art”. The educational industry career method to say “look at me, I’m special” and to “prove” you invented something. It is a requirement to get your PhD - your thesis. So, in education, you invent a “new math”.

This is the result when people go “you should monetize that”, have connections in boards of education and government, and meet up with VCs.

We’ve applied the Big Pharma method to our children and how we educate them.

As was noted “learn more maths” wasn’t a feature, like “cure” isn’t something medicine does, with tons of side effects (excuses for why it didnt work for you) and little testing at scale. It’s all about taking one success in a limited environment and implying more.

@djslack @mfladd

Ruairi Gray, an IT student at Robert Gordon University in Scotland, and his friend Lloyd Jack, reportedly left a pineapple at the Look Again exhibition at RGU’s Sir Ian Wood building.

When they returned four days later he found that the pineapple had been put inside its own glass display case at the event.

@mfladd no kids at this time, but my sister is an elementary teacher so I’ve been through some of the new math with her and found it pretty ludicrous. One of the complaints was that of the few parents she has that actually try to help their students at home, none of them get the way they have to do their math.

@djslack Exactly again!

@mike808

(implying they are less than since you wouldnt buy this otherwise).

Well, forgiving the general tone implied by this statement - as I said this is what they are using for ALL of the early grades in our school system. I hoped by providing membership to incentive him to continue improving his math skills even in the summer months.

I knew this is exactly what this thread would turn into. If one parent gets a cheap membership I am happy and my job is done.

@mfladd @tinamarie1974 Don’t worry about him–he’s as much openly admitted to cheating companies to received a perceived “deal” on items–math that in the long run will end up costing him. Because as we all know, cheaters never prosper.

@mfladd The “less than” implication is the marketing angle from the company and industry that makes this stuff (gamified learning) as a crutch for the collective underfunding of our public educational system at the behest of the politicians we elect.

If your child “needs” this (the “extra” edge from “premium” access for pay) then the marketing is working in that they believe your child is less than.

The pay-to-play model also a privilege unavailable to the poor, reinforcing the link between poverty and educational opportunity suppression to maintain that privilege. If the company truly cared, thr school’s membership should give all our kids full acces to the entire textbook, and not put knowledge behind a paywall.

@eonfifty Yes, you can still sign your child up for a free account. You can also create a free parent account and link the child to it. This acts like a report card. You can see their progress and actually tailor the math problems that will be given to them.
To do the membership I have talked about here the parent must have an account with a child linked to it.

@mfladd
I don’t have any kids. I just want to try it for fun

@Kidsandliz ahhhhh…don’t remind me of that! Actually, I am just waiting for the VMP freebies to arrive

@mfladd And how many years until you are dead of old age? I’d suggest adding infinity to whatever that is to get the approximate ETA of any future VMP freebies.

Dearest @f00l, you should be aware by now in the near future all e-commerce will be conducted via FaceBook. This is for your own protection to help combat fraud. If you do not have an account, you should make one soon or be left out!

@f00l @therealjrn Welcome to the new learning model in schools
Payment is preferred by Paypal. Facebook or credit card can be used but you have to message them to use it. I just used Paypal.

@therealjrn

FB. Huh.
/giphy bah

I have a FB account. Unfortunately. Am a bit ashamed of this fact. Even tho I have posted exactly nothing about my own life.

Got it for the sake of family communication. But am so po’ed at FB and its various practices that I haven’t logged in or read messages or the like in close to a year now. I don’t use the FB login for anything.

If I had kids, this is not how they would learn math.

I’d just read the textbooks/online courses with them. And work thru stuff with them.

Starting, perhaps (after basic algebra etc.) with geometry, trig, and number theory (which don’t need much “previous math”.)

And go from there.

This “program” kinda sounds like, apart from the obvious profit motive, a way for the biz to claim to meet the classroom requirements without the biz owners taking the trouble of getting the students to learn any actual math.

Sigh.

@f00l @therealjrn As was mentioned above, good luck working out the “new math” with them. It is quite bizarre compared to how we learned it. This makes it difficult for parents to help their kids with it. You can easily help them find the answer using our way, but they have to show their work using the new math. It’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out.
Also, even if you don’t want your child to use the Prodigy system - what happens when your child goes into his/her class and HAS to use it? They will be utilizing it whether you like it or not.

@f00l In classrooms I have been in prodigy has been utilized as an extension activity, not as the primary lesson. Some classrooms have used this as a reward and others as a 10-15 minute activity as students settle into the classroom either to open the day or after lunch. This is not utilized as a primary instruction method, but as a extension. As students are highly motivated by the game aspects I find students are more open to asking for help as they want to advance. While not perfect, it is a rare activity in which unilaterally students are highly excited to perform math. While not perfect, it can be an effective tool for teachers to use with students which they actually enjoy.

@mfladd @therealjrn

Since you have a parent account, have you tried using the software? If you can use it successfully, you can try teaching or explaining the principles to your kids.

(Since, I presume, this software uses the approved “new math teaching method”, whatever that is.)

@f00l @therealjrn No, a parent count lets you tailor their math questions and see their progress only. That and you can play the game too. it does not let you work on the problems with them.

@f00l @mfladd @therealjrn

We home-school our three kids and wanting them to be on par with the state curriculum when it comes to math, I thought I’d give the new stuff a shot and back it up with my old school ways when necessary… well, I tried. I really, really did, but I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the thought process! Now, I’m no math whiz but I can kind of still hold my own with anything given up to first year in college so I figured it would be a cinch. Nope. I wound up finding a great online curriculum from Australia, plus another set of textbook based courses that uses classic methods explained in more interesting ways and thankfully the kids have been acing their state evaluations every year by several grades (been doing this for 9 years now!). Their evaluator doesn’t require they do the work the way the public schools do, only that they show their work (phew!).

Please note that I don’t take it one bit for granted that we have the opportunity to home-school our kids, it’s really not for everyone, but seeing the concern in so many of you parents on this thread I wanted to share that there are other good resources out there. Good luck on blending it with the modern methods though!

@zachdecker MIne worked fine. Read the directions carefully and double check before you submit the information. I think there was only one or two people in my group who had their submissions kicked back for one reason or another. Please report back how it goes.

@mfladd The last buy-in was just done this week, and we received our membership - no problems at all. My daughter is thrilled, an for $15 this was much more palatable for me.
Thanks!

@zachdecker That’s great to hear. Glad it went well. I said if one person got a cheap membership it was worth the post.