Does Prodigy Really Help with Math?

Sometimes, when we finish our work, we get to play Prodigy. You probably know that when you are in a battle, you have to answer math questions to cast spells. But does prodigy really help you with math?

Unless it always takes you a long time to solve math problems on Prodigy, you only do battles and never go to the town, or you decorate your house, it is likely that you spend less time doing math than not. This is not your fault. It takes a long time for the animation of spells to be cast and to get coins and battle stars at the end of a battle. When you add it all up, you spend more time waiting and buying stuff than doing math.

According to fairplayforkids.org, “Prodigy’s own research says a child would have to answer 888 Prodigy math questions to raise their standardized test math score by one point.” If you think about it, Prodigy’s math questions are all the same as math questions you would get on a worksheet, just put into a video game. They simplify the fractions for you, teaching you that you don’t have to simplify. Do the questions make you better at math? Chances are no.

Prodigy is a money-driven company, just like the hundreds of others in our country. Their only goal is to make money. If you are a member (or a hacker), you can see that your learning experience is not any better than that of a non-member. It might actually be worse if a membership makes you spend more time on items, clothes, and furniture than you do on math. They trick you into thinking that you are actually learning something.

In conclusion, Prodigy is just a video game that we happen to play at school. It is ok for you to play prodigy, just don’t think of it as a learning experience. I am sorry if this article makes us stop playing prodigy at school.