Cool Math For Kids Technology Website

As one of my objectives for my class, I would like my students to be able to think critically about patterns and shapes in the math content area. This is an area that seems to be quite intimidating for some students, but for others it seems to keep students interest and engagement regardless of the material. I found a website called coolmathfor kids.com. This website caters to those that need a little extra help with math, as well as those that would like more of a challenge. There are instructional portions of this website that will give students an opportunity to look up vocabulary on certain terms that they may not understand, as well as opportunities to interact and see this instruction in action.
As some examples of the above mentioned benefits of this website, I saw some places where students could see a picture as well as the name of certain geometrical shapes. In my experience in the field of education, it seems that it is commonly difficult for students to distinguish between the different names of shapes, and their properties. This website will allow students to visually guide their own learning as they explore. This could be a huge benefit to those that struggle in recognizing shapes. This is just one of the many opportunities that our students have to expound on their math and reasoning skills.
As an example of how students who need a bit more of a challenge, is an example of the virtual games that are on this website. My husband and I looked at one of the games together that had to do with noticing differences and similarities of two images that look virtually the same. There are some minor differences. My husband is one of those that always excelled in math areas. He thought that he would have loved this game and others that he saw on this website.
Some of the cons of this website would be that there would need to be more teacher involvement because some of the concepts seem somewhat difficult. You would need to be specific about what activities you feel that your students should be working on. I also saw that part of this website was directed to young children, and others to Junior High and High School kids. You may get kids who want to do too complicated activities, and then find they are frustrated with math.

Here is the URL for this website: http://www.coolmath4kids.com/