ConnSENSE Review: Splish Splash Math

Splish Splash Math

Sunburst Technology
101 Castelton Street
Pleasantville, NY 10570
(800) 321-7511
email: service@nysunburst.com
WWW: http://www.sunburst.com

Price: $89.95 for a single CD-ROM or a Lab Pack of 10 CDs. Price includes the Teacher’s Guide. Other lab pack configurations, school licenses, and district-wide licenses are also available.

System Requirements: Macintosh System 7.6 or higher, 8MB RAM (16 MB recommended), Power PC processor or better, 640x480 screen resolution, 4X CD-ROM drive or faster, 20 MB hard disk space, 256 color.

Windows Win95, 98, Win NT/2000, 8 MB RAM (16 MB recommended), 486/DX2-66MHz processor, 640x480 screen resolution, 4X CD-ROM drive or faster, 20 MB hard disk space, 256 color, SVGA compatible video card and monitor.

Evaluated by Jane Creamer, Hope School, Marianna, Florida
e-mail martinj@gtcom.net

Rating: A

Splish Splash Math is an exciting program that I was able to evaluate in my elementary self-contained special education classroom. Students in the classroom are ages six through 9 and have a variety of disabilities. The students really enjoyed the structure of the program and the levels it offered. The two types of games presented, The Equation Game and What's My Rule were both beneficial in the area of mathematics with my students. The program features the character "Hopkins", the friendly bunny "Sunbuddy" host. The program teaches simple equations through the combinations of colorful pipes, washers and nuts that, when put together correctly, form a working water system. Leaks alert the students to the need to adjust the numbers or operations. Correct answers trigger funny problems for Hopkins to deal with. One of the best points of the program is that it is not timed and my students could take all the time they needed to complete the materials.

Of my 11 students, 7 had an opportunity to use the program. Among the gains my students made and were able to generalize outside the program to other activities were the abilities to:recognize "how many" in a group of objects; understand the difference between addition and subtraction and connect number words with numerals. The program has a built in record keeping component so student progress can be tracked. I will continue to use Splish Splash Math in my lesson planning throughout the year.

Over all the students found the program to be interesting and colorful. Splish Splash Math was an asset to my classroom. The program could be used by older students also and would be considered age appropriate up through junior high school.

Splish Splash Math can be previewed by teachers for free for 30 days. Teachers can also preview software on-line. Check out the Sunburst Technology’s Web site for more resources for teachers at http://www.sunburst.com.