This site is no longer active or maintained. It is an archive of trainings 2013-2019 at Pu'u Kukui Elementary School.
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BigBrainz
BigBrainz is for building fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We use it with our students in grades 1-5. For our first graders we wait until December or January before we begin using BigBrainz so that teachers have had an opportunity to work with students on the concept of addition before we move them to the game.
How it works - BigBrainz is like a video game where students need to solve addition, subtraction, multiplication or division facts accurately and immediately in order to move to different levels of proficiency. This is not meant to be used before students have had concrete experiences with the operations. There are several different levels of a BigBrainz lesson and the lessons are designed to make sure that students don't repeatedly respond with the incorrect answer. BigBrainz is installed on all of our desktops and can be installed on our iPads. We are currently looking at how to get it to work on our chromebooks.
A word of caution - This software is engaging for students and the majority of students can progress right along without any help from teachers or parents, but . . . for some students this might not be the right choice of a tool to use. Watch for the following things when deciding whether or not to have students use BigBrainz:
Overview (video)
BigBrainz-Walkthrough of Multiplication interface (video)
Usage and Reports (video)
Home Use Letter (pdf document)
How it works - BigBrainz is like a video game where students need to solve addition, subtraction, multiplication or division facts accurately and immediately in order to move to different levels of proficiency. This is not meant to be used before students have had concrete experiences with the operations. There are several different levels of a BigBrainz lesson and the lessons are designed to make sure that students don't repeatedly respond with the incorrect answer. BigBrainz is installed on all of our desktops and can be installed on our iPads. We are currently looking at how to get it to work on our chromebooks.
A word of caution - This software is engaging for students and the majority of students can progress right along without any help from teachers or parents, but . . . for some students this might not be the right choice of a tool to use. Watch for the following things when deciding whether or not to have students use BigBrainz:
- does the game scare them? (some of our younger students are frightened by the music, so we show them how to play it without the sound - because the sound is not necessary) Some students are frightened by the characters, so we find an alternative way to practice fluency.
- does the timed response cause too much stress for the students? (a little stress nudges the students out of their comfort zone and helps them try a problem that they think might be hard for them. Too much stress shuts them down and we start seeing some negative coping behaviors.) For these students we intervene. Sometimes it just takes an adult in the proximity, sometimes it takes waiting for a period of time (months) before reintroducing the tool to students. Sometimes, this isn't the right tool.
- does the student have the conceptual understanding of the operations? Some students need more practice with other tools (e.g., concrete manipulatives) before they are successful using this game environment.
Overview (video)
BigBrainz-Walkthrough of Multiplication interface (video)
Usage and Reports (video)
Home Use Letter (pdf document)
1. Teacher Access- You will want to have the most current version of BigBrainz (TimesAttack) on your computer so that you have access to the current games. There is a download available on the School Use link of the BigBrainz site. To access BigBrainz you double click on the icon and enter your usual teacher password and then you can click on your class. The login window should already have the school chosen, but if it doesn't, you want to choose the following path:
United States > Hawaii > Maui School District > Puʻu Kukui Elementary School
After you've successfully logged in you will see the interface below with information for our entire school.
United States > Hawaii > Maui School District > Puʻu Kukui Elementary School
After you've successfully logged in you will see the interface below with information for our entire school.
When you click on your class in the left sidebar you'll be able to see data for your own students (by class or by student). In the example below you can see the summary graphs for addition for the computer class. The computer class is the class that I use to demonstrate the software to students, so there is not much data available. Once your students start using BigBrainz youʻll be able to see summary reports for the entire class in each operation they are working on by clicking on your class and choosing the operation button at the top of the window.
If you click on an individual student name and then choose an operation, you will be able to see current data on that specific student. This data will show minutes played over time, percentage of completion, and pretest, progress and posttest data.
In the navigation bar at the top of the window you will also see options that have to do with managing student accounts. I usually add students to classes when they enroll in our school, but you can add new students to your classes or edit student names simply by clicking on the appropriate button at the top of the screen, but you have to make sure that you have your class chosen and the correct student chosen if you are going to make any changes (or you might delight the wrong students, or add your student to the wrong class. When we add students we just add them by typing in their first name and a space and then their last name. The password is automatically our usual student password.
2. Student Access - On our student computers, you can find BigBrainz in the launchpad (the little rocket ship icon in the dock). Students were deleting the icon off the desktop, so we placed it in the dock this year, so that they would always be able to access it. The launchpad has several pages so students might need to scroll horizontally to find the icon. Login for students is the same as for teachers except they will use the student password to access the site. Once they login with their password, they need to choose their class and their name from the left sidebar. After choosing their account, students will be prompted to choose an operation. Students can work on more than one operation at a time, but this can get confusing. We usually have our 1st graders begin addition (mid year) and then move to subtraction. Our second graders can repeat addition and then do subtraction or they can just begin with subtraction. Third grade would be working on multiplication, and fourth grade would do division. Fifth graders would work on any operations that they needed to work on.
The link to the BigBrainz-Walkthrough of Multiplication interface video (above) demonstrates what BigBrainz looks like for the older students and I would encourage you to watch it before using BigBrainz with your students for multiplication or division. The addition and subtraction interfaces involve the same framework (pretest, lessons, retention levels, posttest) but is in a friendlier environment for younger students. We'll show the interface below (for addition)
Like the Multiplication and Division games, students enter Addition and are asked to choose a character and respond to a few questions (have you played the game before? what grade are you in?), practice using the number pad, practice using the arrow tools to move their character and then they begin a pre-test. If students donʻt know an answer in the pre-test they can press the space bar to skip it. Students are able to visually see how questions they got correct and how many they missed on the pre-test. When they complete the pre-test their character is teleported into the game.
The link to the BigBrainz-Walkthrough of Multiplication interface video (above) demonstrates what BigBrainz looks like for the older students and I would encourage you to watch it before using BigBrainz with your students for multiplication or division. The addition and subtraction interfaces involve the same framework (pretest, lessons, retention levels, posttest) but is in a friendlier environment for younger students. We'll show the interface below (for addition)
Like the Multiplication and Division games, students enter Addition and are asked to choose a character and respond to a few questions (have you played the game before? what grade are you in?), practice using the number pad, practice using the arrow tools to move their character and then they begin a pre-test. If students donʻt know an answer in the pre-test they can press the space bar to skip it. Students are able to visually see how questions they got correct and how many they missed on the pre-test. When they complete the pre-test their character is teleported into the game.
Students can use the arrow buttons on their keypad to move their character forward or backward. Sometimes when starting a new game it looks like the arrow keys don't work. If this happens, just click the mouse button one time and then the arrow keys will be activated. When a student is presented with a fact that they do not know there will be little balls above the fact so that students can count these or see a pictorial representation of the fact. These will disappear later in the game.
When students have practiced with a group of facts they will be tested on the facts by the eyeball character. This character keeps track of the facts that the students know, the mistakes they make, and the time that it takes to select the answer. This is where students are able to demonstrate fluency with accuracy.
Our students like to help each other out, but this is an area where they need to be working independently so that the game accurately measures what each student knows.
Our students like to help each other out, but this is an area where they need to be working independently so that the game accurately measures what each student knows.
Throughout the game students are measured by their responses. After they have successfully completed a level they will see a screen that says Checkpoint Reached and then they will move to the next set of facts. Student work is saved at the checkpoints.
Retention checks are also done by the biggest eyeball. These also determine placement for students.
After retention checks students are given feedback on the facts that they were working on. The happy face side shows ones that they have met and the sad face side shows the facts that they will continue working with.
After retention checks students are given feedback on the facts that they were working on. The happy face side shows ones that they have met and the sad face side shows the facts that they will continue working with.
To quit the program or to see progress, students will click on the escape button on their keyboard (top left corner of keyboard). From this window they will be able to choose options (screen size and shape) see the level that they are currently at, see the progress that they've made toward fluency or they can press the red button with the X that says Quit.
Students will be prompted with one final quit screen where they can choose to:
Note: Some of our students will repeatedly restart a level so that they don't have mistakes that show, or they will pause while trying to think of an answer. How will you deal with this if you see it happening with your students?
- -Go back and continue playing (the blue button with the arrow)
- -Restart the level (greeen button with the three arrows)
- -Really quit (red button with the x)
Note: Some of our students will repeatedly restart a level so that they don't have mistakes that show, or they will pause while trying to think of an answer. How will you deal with this if you see it happening with your students?