And while some teachers will give kids a “project”, there aren't many children that complete them.
However, one Western Sydney principal believes she has identified a way of engaging their students over the holidays in targeted maths learning.
“We are very concerned about the level of regression we often see in the new year after the long break over the holidays,” she told The Educator.
“Development or mastery of new skills and understanding are so hard fought for as it is and it often means students have to revisit key concepts at a basic level for most of Term 1 before we can get back to the point of being ready for further development.”
The principal said the attitude to learning and self-confidence as a learner are also often damaged and time to rebuild this area is also impacted by the break.
“The Matific system allows us to enable students to continue their learning and gains in development over the holiday season break,” she said.
“This means on return we are not losing a term re-visiting material before we can begin to expand skills.”
The principal added that by doing this, the school is effectively gaining an entire term's time of teaching and learning.
“As well the pleasure factor of Matific continues the student's self-esteem building as a capable learner,” she said.
Brent Hughes, a primary maths teacher and Matific expert, told The Educator that the feedback he has received from principals shows that the program is making a big impression on student engagement in maths education.
“The two things I hear the most from school leaders looking at Matific are: How many students love the maths games on Matific and; how impressed they are with the quality of pedagogy built into the games,” he said.
Hughes said that for school leaders Matific has found “the perfect balance between engagement and deep learning”.
“We are always looking for ways to improve our product and we work closely with classroom teachers and education experts to ensure we are moving forward,” Hughes said.
“The year 2018 will see more of our amazing episodes released giving teachers more Matific content to choose from and we're making it even easier to browse and find this content according to a school's curriculum.”
Hughes added that the company is going even further with its reporting by highlighting specific strengths and weaknesses of classes and individual students against the curriculum.
“Matific is very excited to be releasing a version of the Matific product for parents to buy for their kids at home. 2018 is going to be huge... stay tuned.”
Related stories:
How gamifying maths can work wonders
How to make maths fun and engaging