Hands-On Equations 2

Dr. Henry Borenson, the inventor of the Hands-On Equations program and apps, must have helped many teachers in their mission to teach algebra. We were very impressed by the simplicity of the app and how clearly everything is explained.

Priced at £2.47 the app is worth the money and more for helping struggling students to understand complex algebraic concepts. 

The app opens with the main screen where you can watch a video to learn more about what is ‘Hand-On Equations’ -  the physical game sets of this instructional method have helped more than 1 million students to be more confident and lose their anxiety around the subject.  Students learn faster and understand better when problems are being visualised and this is what the app is best at.

Teachers and parents have to know that in the ‘About us’ page there are a few external links that can be accessed easily by students. We don’t have anything against external links to information, social sharing, etc., but they can distract students and take them out of the app. We always recommend creating a parental control for this type of links.

Before you get started you have to add new user/or multiple and to select one name to access the lessons. Each lesson has video instructions, that you have to watch until the end to unlock the practice tests and then to move to the 10 algebra exercises.  The quality of the video and the instructions delivered are a big part of this app as they hold the key for solving all the exercises. It really feels like there’s a teacher explaining to you - with the added benefits that you can pause, go back and move forward.

In the exercises in Level 2 students learn how to solve equations involving a new symbol -  an ‘X’ with a crossbar through it. This ‘star’ symbol is represented by the white pawn, which is the opposite of the value of a blue pawn. Being opposites, their sum is zero so if both the white pawn and blue pawn occur on the same side of the scale they may be removed without affecting the balance. The notation used for the white pawn is, as students will later discover in the exercises, the sale as ‘-X’.

There is also a review lesson with 10 exercises that will reinforce previous learning. We could definitely see this app used in a classroom environment or at home. Hand –On Equations 1 is a well balanced platform for learning algebra and will offer extra support to students who need more attention.  We are awarding the app with the EAS Recommended Status and a 5 star EAS Certification.

You can download Hands-On Equations 2 on your Android devices from the Google Play Store.