A force for positive change online

Gordon's third graders use Reflex Math for math practice.

The online software has users choose avatars, and lets them earn accessories by logging hours sharpening their skills.

 

As last year's third graders used Reflex Math, they noticed a few things that made them uneasy.

With help from their teachers, they did a thoughtful critique of what worked well and what didn't. And, as any Gordon student would, they strategized on how they could help make a change for the better.

 

There were three things that bothered the students: 

1. The software forced users to choose between two genders - male and female - and then limited their choice of accessories according to gender stereotypes

2. The rewards only came in the form of shopping, and did not offer more community-minded opportunities like planting a tree or helping others.

3. Some of the accessory choices made certain physical types look silly - for instance, hats didn't fit well on people with curly hair.

Students wrote to Reflex Math, and several parents and teachers did, too. Gordon's schoolwide math specialist brought in the school's sales representative, as well, and engaged with their technical support team too.

 

Last week, Gordon learned that the third graders' efforts have begun to have an impact. A number of tweaks have been made to the software, based on student feedback, and technical support is working on other changes.

In a conversation that parallels the seventh grade's ongoing work on Columbus Day, students have discovered some hard practical truths about social change: it is not always obvious who the decisionmakers are, you need to be clear about the changes you'd like to see, and genuine progress can be slow.

The team behind Relex Math has taken initial steps to make the same accessories available to players of all genders. Thank them for beginning to respond to the students' concerns, and encourage them to continue, by emailing David.Butler@explorelearning.com and Sally.wallace@explorelearning.com