Review: Number Shark 4
Iain Laskey examines the latest version of the popular Number Shark maths software
| Product | Number Shark 4 |
|---|---|
| Company | White Space Limited |
| Web | www.wordshark.co.uk |
| Price | £50+VAT |
| We like | Wide variety of well structured material, customisation of lessons |
| We don't like | A little pricy |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements | Windows NT/XP/Vista Mac OSX |
There's a good few software titles that aim to teach basic maths. We've found most to be a little lacking though. They might be very pretty or be based on a favorite cartoon character but they often don't seem to be that good at the core concepts, just at drilling the child with repeated sums hidden in games.
Number Shark 4 is at the other end of the scale. It looks pretty basic graphically but behind that initially lackluster appearance hides a really well thought out system for building a solid understanding of numbers and how to work with them.
The program is aimed primarily at schools but also works well in the home environment with children between 6 and 14. It supports multiple children, each of whom can have their own record of achievement. It starts with a screen showing the forty five different games broken down into various categories such as counting, arithmetic concepts or number line and grid. The child can pick and choose which games they want to play. If a child does well, they can be rewarded with a fun game where they can win gold coins such as a slot machine or golf. Kids love getting rewards like this so it helps encourage them to keep playing.
The games themselves do look graphically primitive but we found that didn't seem to bother our child tester at all. He's used to Xbox 360 and Wii games but was more than happy to play Number Shark. The games are very well thought out with each trying to convey a particular concept. The games use a mix of spoken voice instructions and different ways of displaying the relationships between the numbers or visualizing an idea that is being conveyed. More importantly, Number Shark introduces strategies to problem solving so the child doesn't just learn by rote, they develop genuine understanding they can then build on.
In terms of content, Number Shark covers the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division on numbers up to 7 digits in length. It also covers negatives, percentages, fractions and decimals. Numbers are expressed as numerics, written, via an abacus or using rods and number lines etc. Wider issues such as ordering, grouping, commutatitivity and place value are also covered. Our tester has always struggled with the concepts of tens and units but after a few sessions with Word Shark started to make progress in this area.
Customization
One of the real strengths of Number Shark is that a teacher of parent can set the program up with a custom set of parameters describing what they'd like to concentrate on such as a particular times table or set of games. Once done, the system will tailor the lessons accordingly. Whilst useful and functional, we did think this process could be a little clearer and we had to go back 2 or 3 times to get it doing what we wanted as we didn't know all the games by name.
Another useful feature is that after the child has finished playing, you can look at their results in some detail. The games they played, how many points they got for each one and the mistakes they made can all be viewed enabling you to pinpoint problem areas that need further reinforcement.
Some games do require fairly speedy and accurate mouse control so we'd recommend using a proper mouse if working on a laptop.
Conclusion
Number Shark 4 is an excellent piece of software for help children get to grips with all the basics of arithmetic and numeric theory. The games keep them interested and motivated and the learning curve is well designed taking them through a wide range of skills and levels. For home users the £50+VAT price might be a concern but when it comes to your children's education, this isn't a bad price for what is probably the best of breed in this area.
On a side note, we would like to comment that the publishers seem surprisingly reluctant to provide review copies and it took numerous emails to even elicit what turned out to be a demo version. Luckily, we were able to liaise with a local school to get a full copy which helped enormously given that the demo misses much of the functionality and could well have resulted in a poorer review.
