What will the four platforms that Mendoza will have for students to learn and practice Mathematics be like?

This will be a very useful tool for children and also for parents who must monitor their children's processes . As a plus, they will have the possibility of using it offline, that is, without a connection, overcoming this obstacle that so often creates accessibility gaps.

As with these things, the first thing to do is to start with smaller-scale tests, to make the necessary adjustments and see how it works. For now, it will be available to some schools, but the intention is that by the 2026 cycle it will be available to all primary and secondary school students, for the grades that have been developed, as detailed by the General Directorate of Schools (DGE).

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The aim of this is to strengthen the learning of this area, an aspect that has been focused on due to the poor performance shown by students in the country and the province. It is one more element that is added to the program implemented by the province: Mendoza Improves Learning Mathematics, a census survey that this year for the first time will reach all students.

In this context, a platform with content and activities to strengthen knowledge in English will also be added: Cumbre. The same is being developed for language and science.

The new tools are a superior option to what is known as a virtual classroom , which, according to the DGE, is more limited. Between March and May, the 4 mathematics platforms and the English one, aimed at primary and secondary school students, will be presented.

On the one hand, between mid and late March, the coverage of three platforms that were already being used in a limited way and as a test will be expanded to adjust them in the process of use. These are Mentu, Matic and Matific . Meanwhile, in April, perhaps the darling of the bet will be presented: Mendoza Aumentada. This is a platform developed specifically for Mendoza and adapted to the particularities of the contents established by the DGE.

In May they hope to launch the Summit, which will focus on English content.

Mento, Matic and Matific are primarily aimed at primary school and will be implemented in some secondary schools . In primary school, they were already in use in 50 schools last year and 100 more will be added this year.

“These are platforms with a lot of gamification, that is, activities that are like games that children have in which they reinforce the content they see in the classroom with practice,” explained Nélida Maluf, Director of Educational Quality Planning at the DGE.

I specify that these are platforms with content that is already prepared, that is, canned, with adaptation to local content.

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"There are small tables that the children discover and review the theory," he added. Based on what they have done, teachers can go in and see what exercise the child did or what he could not solve in order to strengthen it.

Romina Mendez, in charge of monitoring the platforms in the schools where it is applied, mentioned: “They can log in at home with their username and password. The good thing about them is that, for example, Flex (Mendoza Aumentada) and Matifix, allow you to use it offline. That is, later, when you connect to the Internet, the activities would be uploaded. And, for example, Mentu also allows you to use it on any cell phone, so you can use any device.”

Maluf said that last year they were applied in key grades such as third, fourth and sixth.

In the case of Mendoza Aumentada, it is developed by the company Flexflix, which works with artificial intelligence . It is aimed at secondary school, specifically first, second and third year.

“Flexflix is ​​video, so you can watch it on any device ,” Méndez said.

On this subject, Maluf stressed that the fact that it can be used offline is very useful for remote and rural schools, and even for the community that can use it at home.

Maluf stressed that it has been specifically designed for the province and explained: “The platform offers explanatory videos that reinforce what teachers have taught and there are specific activities on knowledge from first, second and third year secondary school.” In addition, there will be activities linked to the Aprender and Pisa tests for training.

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As part of all this, the official highlighted that “for the first time in Mendoza a team of mathematicians defined the fundamental knowledge from the 3-year-old classroom to the fifth or sixth year of secondary school , now we have finished with the language.” She clarified that this is very important because it helps teachers to know what the children should have learned in order to resume from there. “It is the first time that there is such a defining document, it is based on this that Mendoza Aumentada defined the contents.

As a substantial part of progress in this regard, it is essential to have the necessary resources since, as seen in the pandemic, gaps in access become gaps in learning.

For this reason, the strategy is accompanied by another of the announcements made by the government: the arrival in the province of 700 carts with 37 netbooks each , plus one for the teacher, which will be distributed in schools so that they can work with the new platforms there.

“They are larger netbooks than the ones we know, with other features and faster,” said Maluf. The idea is to give them to schools that participate in the platforms to ensure access and for them to stay there.

Another aspect of this advance has to do with guaranteeing what is called the technological floor. Although the DGE assures that the vast majority of schools have connectivity, the issue is its stability and that it reaches all areas of the building, so that students can connect. Therefore, in the schools that have been chosen to test this new strategy, connectivity is being evaluated and improved if necessary to guarantee it.