Thanks for asking, Jacqueline. Our research has been limited, but in classroom observations, we’ve seen students create systems of equations based on a mobile puzzle and then solve the system without using the mobile. It’s seems helpful for students to be able to create equations in the app by dragging a beam off of a mobile. We’ve also seen students talk about the mobile picture that an equation would make without actually being given a mobile, which we think indicates that the logic is readily transferable.

All of the puzzles that are built into the app have a unique solution, so all of the unknowns in these puzzles are dependent on the givens. Some user-shared puzzles do have multiple solutions, and some built-in puzzles have multiple mobiles but only one solution (for example, try Puzzle 84: http://solveme.edc.org/Mobiles.html?mobiles=-84 ).

Hi Amy, great question! We haven’t seen much difference in the student’s mathematical experience between the mobiles app and the web app. Students do tend to get more excited about working on the iPads, but once immersed in the app, the functionality hardly differs. Further along those lines, I’ve been quite surprised by how adept students are with technology, in general. Even with the beta versions, which had bugs and incomplete features, students were able to use the app with great ease and generally needed little to no support with navigating the app even as a work in progress.

Hi Sue Ellen, Most of our research has been in formal contexts, where student engagement has lasted though our four class-period interventions and students were encouraged to work together, at home, and as a class (as well as to build and share puzzles with teachers and classmates). Our informal research contexts were shorter in duration; players have been given the app and asked for feedback. Research focused on differences in learning practices with math puzzle apps across contexts would be interesting! Thanks!