Start Flashcard by double-clicking the lightning icon on your desktop. The Flashcard title screen will appear in a few seconds. Hit any key to get to the log-on screen.
A Practice Run
Hit the 'A' key to start Pleaseplay Withme. The first question is 0 + 0 = ? Hit '0' and 'Enter'. Flashcard will thank you for your answer and display it briefly before the next question. Flashcard asks for 6 to 10 correct answers the first run.
If you answer is wrong Flashcard will thank you and display the correct answer. You have to hit the space bar to go on. The missed question will soon be repeated. Flashcard ends the first run if you get the first 6 questions correct or when you have given up to 10 correct answers.
Pleaseplay Withme is mostly for practice and your guests and does not keep good track of the answers. When you are ready...
Start Your Own Flashcard
To start your own Flashcard hit 'Z' at the log-on screen. Enter your name and a password. The password is four characters which can include numbers. Choose a password you will remember. I use easy passwords like 'aaaa' and 'bbbb.'
Use your new password for the next Flashcard run to make your new password permanent.
The First Few Runs
Each time you give a correct answer Flashcard waits a little longer to ask that question again.
There is a small chance of getting a Joker for the next question. When a Joker appears you can pause for a quick break. I take a quick look around the room and sometimes even a quick yawn. Hit any key when you are ready to get back to Flashcard.
Flashcard will be ready each time you start for your first few runs. In a few runs Flashcard will begin waiting longer between runs. This exercises the length of your recall. Your first answer to each question each run is the best indication of how well you remember a fact how long. Second, third, and up answers are more for practice, and you will do better with those your next run.
Answer Timing
Your answers are timed from question display to the first answer keystroke. You dot need to hurry to the Enter key.
You can answer the questions faster if you learn to use the numeric keypad at the right of your keyboard. There is a bump on the 5 so you can learn to answer without taking time to look. It takes a while to get used to this but it will save you time mastering all the facts.
Starting New Facts
Flashcard will always give you up to 20 new facts each run provided that you have answered all your previously started facts. All facts repeat. The time for repeating each fact increases depending on your accuracy and relative speed.
Take the time you need to be sure your answers are correct.
Progress is fastest if you answer at an accurate, steady pace.
How Soon Will Flashcard Be Ready For My Next Run?
Within a few days Flashcard will run twice to begin each day. Flashcard then delays runs 5, 10, 15, 30, and 50 minutes. This schedule promotes the growth of long-term rapid recall.
When you have answered all the facts Flashcard will run less often as the software detects your mastery. Flashcard will run only a few times each day or week.
Flashcard won't ask for more than 50 correct answers each run if runs do not go much over three minutes.
How Often Should I Run Flashcard?
Longer-term memorization occurs only when the memories are recalled before they are forgotten. In this case answer speed is also a memory. To build long-term recall the neuron and synapse connections in the brain must be exercised before they are broken. Broken connections are lost forever and learning occurs from scratch.
By far, the fastest and most efficient way to master all these facts is to run Flashcard every time it is ready 7 days a week.
I recommend that students run Flashcard all six times it is ready during the first hour of each day and then once an hour for the remaining hours until bedtime.
Data back to us indicates that students who run Flashcard half
as often learn one fourth as fast. Students who practice their math facts lots during a single hour of each day do not achieve significant learning. It is far more efficient to practice a few minutes each hour.
Students whose parents and teachers had given up using any other known method have achieved significant learning using these techniques. For some such students the gift of Flashcard has been learning that they could learn at all, despite the best efforts of parents and teachers.
Students who take frequent multiple-hour breaks and days off will not learn efficiently. Rather than taking on new facts they will bog down in relearning over and over again the same facts.
Days Off
Sorry here but our experience is that students lose 1 day's gain for each day off. This means every new speed or accuracy memory started on one day is lost during the next day off and has to be learned completely from scratch beginning on the third day back doing Flashcard. Students who take two-day weekends gain only 3 days each week.
We recommend that most students take a 'relaxed' day off instead and make at least some Flashcard runs.
Your Score:
Flashcard will display your score at the beginning and end of runs. Flashcard adjusts some facts between runs to give you more practice where you need it to ensure longer-term recall. This lowers your score between runs but will give you a higher score over the long run.
The Graphs:
The Trends and Graph screens appear before every run. We do not attempt to explain these in detail and it helps students to see that they are making something happen. We anticipate that most students will achieve speeds in the 3/4 to 1 1/4 second range.
Starting Multiplication and Division:
Addition and subtraction are a required prerequisite for multiplication and division, including me.
It takes me about a week to get to multiplication and division but I am accurate and speed consistent. We have not yet met any students who already know +/- nearly as well as they will. We can confidently set an unprecedented standard for mastery which cannot be achieved with manual flash cards.
Mastery of the addition and subtraction facts continues before multiplication and division during each run.
....Getting Finished
Give Flashcard your best answers for a few minutes at a time. Then go play or do something else. It will take a while but before too long you will know all the facts very well. And we expect other math, homework, and school will get easier.
My son still runs Flashcard once in a while seven years after beginning. He takes some pride in being known for knowing the facts better than the other students at his high school so he brushes up.
I do not give a hoot about how well you learn the facts compared to another person. What I do care deeply about is that Flashcard gives each student the opportunity to master these facts very close to each student's gift for mastery. Flashcard does more arithmetic after each run than most students will likely do by hand in their lifetimes. The student interface is deliberately straightforward, respectful, non judgmental, honest, informative, and attentive to student's desire for knowledge. Learning here may sprout acorns.
There are a few adjustments you can make in 'Setup' which is accessible from the 'Hello' screen:
1. You can adjust the frequency of 'Jokers.' Some students are amused by Jokers and take the opportunity for a quick break before getting back to questions. Others are annoyed by them.
2. You can adjust the time each answer is displayed before the next question. This speeds up automatically over the first few runs. Some students may prefer a little longer delay.
3. If the student is not ready to begin multiplication and division set enable to "No."
Flashcard has been several years in development and we expect improvement to continue. Part of the development process is "learning by mistakes." Please let us know if you encounter a problem. The more information you can give, the better we can find the haystack needle. Particularly if the error seems fatal please let us know the last thing that worked OK.
Many people have made significant suggestions for improving Flashcard. These suggestions enable us to improve Flashcard for others.