As math teachers, we all want to help our students learn the material and be prepared for class. So many great apps exist but it can be hard to find the good ones. This blog is a compilation of websites and products that make teaching math easier (for me) and more enjoyable for students (I hope!). It covers both subject specific apps and resources as well as classroom organization tools–all recommendations are rooted in my own experience.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Math Teachers
- Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a completely free personalized learning resource with online courses, videos, and exercises. Students can complete daily reviews and keep track of their progress within the platform’s learning dashboard. The math tutorials are categorized by subject and by grade level for easy navigation and utilize specialized content—with the help of organizations like NASA, California Academy of Sciences, and The Museum of Modern Art—to bring the lessons to life.
What teachers love: Practice problems provide hints one step at a time, so students can get help when they’re stuck at a specific point, but don’t necessarily need help with the entire problem. This allows them to work things out for themselves and learn at their own pace.
Grade levels: K-12; secondary
See also 25 Of The Best Math Resources For 2018
- IXL
While IXL is a subscription-based learning site, it does offer free daily math practice problems. Students can complete ten free questions (in each subject) per day and grow their math skills. The subscription membership includes unlimited practice questions, analytics, certificates, and personalized skill recommendations.
What teachers love: If a student gets a problem incorrect, the program shows all the steps to complete the problem so they can see where they went wrong and learn from their mistakes.
- Math is Fun
Just as the name implies, Math is Fun aims to make math enjoyable and entertaining. The site uses puzzles, games, quizzes, worksheets, and a forum to help guide students through their learning.
What teachers love: The problems and solutions are all explained in simple language, making it easier for students to learn on their own without the necessity of an adult or teacher to “translate.”
- Quizlet
Quizlet is a website and app that teaches all kinds of things through digital cards. On this app students can learn through flash cards, matching cards, short term memorization cards, long term memorization cards, etc. Students or teachers can use premade card decks or make their own custom decks. This app is free and available on any platform.
Grade levels: K-12
- Wolfram MathWorld
MathWorld is a free online resource for everything related to mathematics. The site includes interactive GIFs and demonstrations, downloadable notebooks, and “capsule summaries” for various math terms. Students can explore more than 13,000 entries to strengthen their math foundation and build up their understanding.
What teachers love: The site allows older and more advanced students to really dig deep into mathematics, with topics and articles in several different math-related subjects for a variety of background and ability levels.
- Art of Problem Solving
With the Art of Problem Solving, students have three different avenues to get help and resources related to math. The Online School is a gateway for students to enroll in additional math classes and AoPS’ Bookstore offers challenging, in-depth textbooks so students can further explore the subject.
What teachers love: Students can challenge themselves to dig deeper into the math subjects they find fascinating through moderated message boards, games, and articles.
Grade levels: 2-12
- Desmos
Desmos is a free online graphing calculator that students can use to graph functions, plot data and evaluate equations. The site also includes math examples and even creative art—so students can get the most out of the calculator.
What teachers love: The website and program are extremely user-friendly, with an extensive help center; and with Desmos, families don’t have to worry about purchasing a pricey graphing calculator.
Grade levels: 6-12; secondary
- Prodigy Math Game
This game aims to teach through the game instead of outright basic learning math, and still give your student/child the math education they need. This game allows for great progress tracking, as teachers or parents check the questions their student or child is having trouble with, track how they’re doing alongside their peers, adjust grade level, set goals, access video lessons, and more. This game has basic, free features, or you can buy an upgraded version for $6.25-$8.33 per month. - Math Playground
This app aims to make learning fun for students, teaching mainly through games–such as puzzles, animals, painting, and more. Math Playground targets students from Kindergarten all the way through 6th grade. Math Playground is free and available on any platform with a search engine. - edX
At edX, students can access over 3,500 free courses–these courses come out of prestigious colleges, such as Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, Cornell, Dartmouth and other smaller colleges as well. edX can be a great place to learn math for students grade 6-12.
mathematics apps for students
- Prodigy Game
Meant for students of grades 1-8, Prodigy Game is available for free on iOS, Android and web platforms. Teachers love this game-based learning program because it allows them to use games in classroom and for homework assessment projects and make learning a fun activity.
The app offers built-in diagnostic test which generates real-time reports on students’ progress and helps teachers identify their strengths and weaknesses.
- Math Training for Kids
Meant for students of ages 3 and up, this Android-based app helps students to pick up four basic concepts of Math – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division – quite easily. You will find several interesting exercises and games to give kids ample practice. - CK12
A free app, available on Android, iPhone or iPad, Windows 8 or 10 and web platforms, CK-12 pairs high-quality content with latest technology. The interactive learning activities it offers include adaptive practice, PLIX, and simulations.
High School students would love its BrainGenie section while those who specifically want to develop their Algebra Proficiency and Higher Mathematics skills should delve into its FlexMath section.
Teachers love the app because it is easily accessible anytime, anywhere; and include workbooks, quizzes and tests too.
- Colorado’s PhET
Colorado’s University PhET simulations project is quite popular as a classroom tool in progressive Maths and Science teachers. The animated illustrations can easily be incorporated into lectures as well as homework assignments to help students understand certain concepts easily.
While PhET app is available for $0.99 for Android and iPhone/iPad users, K-12 students can access its PhET simulations onlineExternal link:open_in_new for free to study mathematical concepts like Projectile Motion, Calculus Grapher, and Arithmetic.
- Photomath
Available for free on both Android and iOS platforms, Photomath allows you to snap a picture of the math problem and get its step-by-step solution! From basic arithmetic to fractions to trigonometry to linear and quadratic equations, it can help you with a lot of Math problems quite easily.
While a good teacher will certainly never allow you to use this app in a classroom, teachers do recommend it as a study support too that students can use at home.
Other similar free apps that you might want to try are Mathway and Socratic.
- Khan Academy
Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, uploaded videos on Algebra on YouTube with a purpose to provide remote tutoring to his cousin. The videos got more views than he expected and today Khan Academy offers free video lessons to all students through its apps and website.
One can learn anything here – from counting to calculus. There is a dashboard which allows students, parents, and teachers to track the progress of students too.
- GeometryPad
Free for Android and iOS, the app is loved by teachers for making the understanding of geometric concepts easier and ensures better student engagement in class. Teachers can also give assignments for home using it, in which students can practice taking measurements and using the compass, experiment with different geometric shapes, and create complex geometric sketches too. - BuzzMath
Primarily a web-based app, it offers over 3,000 problems that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Teachers love it because it is accessible from any device, offers a variety of input styles, allows students to try again and again, and of course, detailed reporting tools (in paid versions only). - Brainscape Flashcards
Available on both iOS and Android based platforms, this app is unique because it gathers inputs from a student and then, creates a study plan tailored to him or her.
Math tutorsExternal link:open_in_new love it for its flashcard function, which is quite useful when it comes to helping high school students learn their formulas. Flashcard repetitions in the app are timed according to the individual’s cognitive requirements and have been scientifically proven to help you learn better in half the time.
- Singapore Maths
We all know how proficient Singaporean students are in Math. It’s because of their special teaching method where abstract mathematical concepts are explained easily to students using concrete objects. The method is fully compatible with CCSS.
The app includes over 500 learning games and educational videos. There is a free trial available but after the trial period, one will have to subscribe to the app to be able to access its content.
Conclusion
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