At Teachley, we take research seriously (it’s in our tagline, after all). Our products are developed with support from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. As part of these grants, we conduct ongoing research to evaluate the effectiveness of our apps in improving students’ mathematical abilities.
Research-based. Our math program is deeply connected to research on how students develop mathematical understanding. We focus on strategies, because research shows that’s what struggling learners need. Want to know more? Check out the research behind our games or learn about addition strategies.
Design research. When developing our apps, we utilize an iterative design research process during which we build initial prototypes of the app and its features, such as levels and scaffolds, then give them to kids to play. We observe as they interact with the app, ask questions, and gather valuable feedback to inform the refinement of the app. What does this look like? Read our blog post about testing an early version of Mt. Multiplis.
Efficacy research. To evaluate whether our apps impact learning, we conduct research studies during which we explore changes in students’ abilities before and after they play. To help synthesize some of our research efforts, we’ve put several short briefs and link to them below:
Teachley Numbers. Students who played our operations apps improved their fluency more than students who played traditional fluency games. Further, students using our Mt. Multiplis app were significantly more likely to use the distributive property when explaining how they solved problems. These results were also found when looking specifically at children who struggle in mathematics. Read the full Teachley Numbers brief here.
Fractions Boost Intervention Curriculum. Johns Hopkins University conducted a one-group, pre-post correlational study to assess the feasibility and effects of the curriculum with 48 classrooms from 13 schools in 6 diverse districts. The study took place during the 2020-21 school year across a variety of settings: fully remote, hybrid, and in-person learning. Researchers found significant achievement gains for both grades (effect sizes of +1.40 for 3rd grade and +0.94 for 4th grade). The study also found that teachers overwhelmingly agree that using the curriculum enhanced their ability to teach fractions. Find out more about the research study here.
Teachley Fractions Games. In this study, students in grades 3-5 were randomly assigned to play either Teachley Fractions games or Slice Fractions games for six weeks. The students playing Teachley games developed stronger estimation skills in placing single fractions and the results of fractions operations on a number line. Read the full Teachley Fractions brief here.
Fractions Problem Solving. Our latest software allows students to draw models of fractions to help them think deeply and solve fractions word problems. In a recent study with 140 3rd-5th grade students, Teachley’s software helped improve fractions problem solving by 20% after just 3-5 math sessions. Read more about the research here.
Two different student solutions to a problem where 8 friends are sharing 5 loaves of bread equally.
Teachley Numbers has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under contract numbers ED-IES-12-C-0046 and ED-IES-13-C-0044. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
The Fractions Boost Intervention curriculum research reported in this post was fully supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number R44GM130162. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Teachley Fractions has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the National Science Foundation under contract numbers 1519618 and 1632238. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
At Teachley we are committed to transparency regarding potential conflicts of interest. Read our full policy here.