Cost: Free
Pros: This app could be especially useful as an educational supplement. I could see a parent lending his or her child the iPad to play with this app on a car ride or on a rainy summer day. The tracing portion of this app would be a great way to practice skills outside of the classroom, especially since a lot of young children need extra work on their motor skills. Another positive aspect of this app is that the addition & subtraction portion would be a fun way for a class to review their math facts. Teachers could reward children with playing this game and facilitate learning along the way. Lastly, the counting portion of this app almost doubles as a matching game. This could be a fun way for children to categorize similar items while counting them. Also, it's a free app, so teachers could recommend it to parents without having to worry about the cost. There's also a full version for $1.99 that appears to have greater depth to it and a family of "Tracer" apps available for purchase.
Cons: This application seems to be best used as a supplement to a basic lesson. While it is a fun way for students to practice some of their skills, it is geared more toward individuals. (I'm sure teachers could work around this or use it as a center.) I found it difficult to navigate back to the main menu without completely quitting the app as well. Another negative aspect of this app is that it lacks depth. By this, I mean that students can only add and subtract on it and will outgrow it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. This could almost serve as a formative assessment, a way for teachers to chart a child's progress along the way. Lastly, on a more superficial note, this app was slightly boring. Young children might appreciate the farm animal theme, but I found the repetition to be unfulfilling.
Classroom Use: I believe an application like this would be best used as a game, serving as part of the class's hidden curriculum. By this, I mean that this app could almost disguise learning as a game, a kind of game that the students beg to play and enables them to enjoy math. I wouldn't use it during the height of my lesson but as a reinforcement to the main lesson because it focuses on tracing numbers, counting, and basic addition and subtraction. These concepts are fundamental and students should practice them all the time, not just during a lesson.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/123-tracer-more-lite-free/id343243254?mt=8
I liked the idea of multifaceted skills you described in your review, so I tried Tracer Lite out. I don't know if you experienced the same bugs that I did- balloons that didn't pop even though the prescribed number was given, sounds repeating even when nothing was happening, etc. I agree that this is at best a free-time app for very young grades. Did you think that some of the directions seemed kind of pointless/busy work? Example: the 3-2-1/1-2-3 directive for the balloon popping?
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