Kids Learning 6

Thanks to a recent donation of 14 Google Nexus tablets from Telmate, members of the Boys & Girls Club of Western Treasure Valley are waiting in line to do their math homework. The Math Masters initiative, as it is called, is part of Telmate’s community outreach program, and is one of many efforts the company supports to help youth achieve success in school and life.

 “Telmate’s technology serves over 70,000 men and women who are incarcerated,” reports Telmate Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Hansen. “Due to socioeconomic factors in many of the regions we serve, children often have very limited opportunity and far too often end up in a life of crime,” says Hansen. “We want to break this cycle and empower these children to break away from that path.”

The Math Masters initiative relies on using a program on the tablet known as a “learning platform” called eCarrot. According to eCarrot Founder and CEO Patrick Grimes, eCarrot gives children the incentive and the mechanism for self-improvement by using smart devices.

Club members using eCarrot are challenged with solving age-appropriate math questions. As they get answers correct they collect time that they can then use to play popular games like Angry Birds or Subway Surfer as a reward. The Boys & Girls Club is offering the Math Masters program to sixty, second and fifth grade members to see how best to manage the huge appeal.

Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Matt Sorensen was extremely pleased with the introduction of the tablets. “These tablets are far more popular that we thought they would be,” he says. According to Sorensen, one child that has struggled with behavior issues quickly earned 20 minutes of playtime and was even helping other kids solve their problems. “When you see kids practicing math that wouldn’t do it otherwise, you know this program is doing something right.”