Recently, we interviewed Kristin Aguilar, an innovative fifth grade teacher at STEAM Academy at Stribling Elementary, located in Burleson, Texas. Ms. Aguilar is implementing a “flipped classroom.” Because Wowzers is hosted in the cloud, her students are able to use classroom Chromebooks to access the program, which, according to Ms. Aguilar, are often a more affordable option than other laptops.

In this creative solution, students do much of their learning at home and often use their classroom time to ask questions and get clarification. Because students learn both at home and at school, it’s essential that any program she implements be available 24/7 and allow students to pick up where they left off from any computer. Wowzers fits perfectly into this model. In fact, Ms. Aguilar sent parents information on Wowzers over spring break so students could continue to learn and master standards.

We asked Ms. Aguilar if she has any tips for other Wowzers users and she recommended that all teachers create their own personal passwords and usernames for students in the Class Roster tab. She also suspects the NWEA feature that automatically creates personalized paths for students from their MAP Growth scores would save a lot of time. Currently, she manually creates paths for each student using RIT scores and in-class performance.

Ms. Aguilar’s students continually provide feedback about using Wowzers. “I love the quests and games,” is often heard, and one student even reported, “It feels like we are a part of the story and get coins as we go along.” Engagement at all levels is precisely why Ms. Aguilar chose Wowzers as a math program for her students. When she tried other programs, she found Wowzers the most engaging and easiest to use. This is evidenced by her students, who love Wowzers no matter the level of their mathematics ability. The program provides something for every student as it adapts to their particular needs.