The idea for this program was suggested to me around 1985 by Mrs. Risbeck, a fourth-grade teacher in Rolla, Missouri.  She used this as a drill in Addition and Multiplication for her students and she kept track of each student's status in learning these processes.  She would have the students stand at the blackboard, facing the class, and she would go behind them and set up their "T" on the board - a column of numbers 1 to 9 on the left side of the "T".  On her signal, they would turn around and either multiply or add their "level" (a number 1 to 9) and write the result on the right side of the "T", as quickly as they could before she called "time" after 20 seconds.  When a student was consistently getting 7/9 correct, they got a star, and she moved them to the next level.

I have extended her idea to include subtraction and division, and have added a scoring facility based on accuracy and speed.  A student scoring 9/9 correct in 20 seconds or less will score 100 or more.

While this is aimed at the Elementary School Level, there are many students who have reached higher levels (even College) without mastering these skills.  This program provides those students an opportunity to overcome that deficiency.

Select the process to work on:  Addition (+) Subtraction (-) Multiplication (X) or Division (/), and the level (1-9), then click on "start".  Type the answer and press the "enter/return" key to move to the next problem.

Gary L. Bertrand
University of Missouri-Rolla