Surfing the Net with Kids: Math Flashcards

September 5, 1999

Dear Readers,

Welcome back. Hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day holiday
with your family. For a historical look at labor in America,
surf on over to my Labor
Day picks.

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Math Flashcards

What’s
seven times eight? How about eight times eight? Six times nine? I’d love
to sit here all day — but I think I have laundry to do. It’s common
knowledge that computers are very good at repetitive tasks. They simply
never tire. Which makes them perfect study partners for drill and
practice. With that in mind, I set out to find the best math flashcards on
the Internet. Here are my picks.

A+ Math Flashcards

A+ Math Flashcards earns its grade with a large
selection of Java and non-Java flashcards covering fifteen subjects from
addition and counting money to algebra and geometric areas. The Java
flashcards are "faster and more fun," but the non-Java cards will
work on all browsers, including WebTV. Flashcard Creator is a unique
feature for creating your own printable flashcards for addition,
subtraction, multiplication or division with numbers from one to twelve.
Having trouble memorizing your sevens and eights? Flashcard Creator allows
you to specify which numbers you want on your custom cards.

Allmath Flashcards

Options abound at Allmath Flashcards. First, choose your operators (any
combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.) Then
choose what size operands (from ten up to a hundred) and if you want to
keep score. Finally you have the option of AutoFlash, which will change
cards automatically at a variety of speeds, from every two seconds up to
every minute. This really keeps things moving — and adds a bit of game
show excitement! Allmath uses Javascript, which means you need version
4.0 or better of either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.

Basic
Facts Practice

Start by simply choosing either add/subtract or multiply/divide. When
the colorful Java applet square appears in a separate window, follow the
directions to enter your name, date and teacher’s name. The best feature
here is the detailed scoring available under Report Card. Although Basic
Facts in also available in a non-Java version (look for the link near the
bottom of the page) I liked the Java version of Basic Facts Practice
because you select your answers with the click of mouse, which I find
faster than typing.

Flashcards for Kids

Although these flashcards only cover the basic operands (addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division), you can advance to harder
problems because Flashcards for Kids allows you to specify a level of
complexity and to set the size of the numbers up to 10,000. Other choices
include scoring, a timer, and whether to display the equations vertically
or horizontally. Even with all these choices, these flashcards do not use
Java or Shockwave, which means they can be accessed by older browsers and
WebTV.

Quia Math

Quia is a treasure trove of more than thirty math activities — each
of which includes flashcards and a Concentration-style matching game.
Topics range from basic addition to algebra terminology. The best click,
however, is Math Journey — where you can practice addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and rounding at four levels.
"Travel around the world by answering math problems. The journey
begins and ends in London, and has stops in 30 cities along the way. To
board the plane to each new city, you must answer a math problem correctly.
If you get a problem wrong, you have ‘missed your flight’. Miss three
flights and the game is over."

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