Does An App Like Photomath Have A Place In The Classroom?

I know that many students use certain apps like Photomath to help them complete assignments but most of the students I know who have done this?  Well they didn't learn the material.  I can tell who has used it because their homework is 100% but on the assessment, they bomb all the problems.  Fortunately, there are things we can do as teachers to use such apps and help students learn the material at the same time.

In this column, I'll use the Photomath but it is only one of several apps that operate in the same way.  You  use the app to "read" the problem and it provides all the steps to show how it was solved and at the end, you have the correct answer.  It is too easy to just copy the material down without thinking.

I've done some reading up on this topic because I want to allow students this choice but I want to make more of a learning experience, especially as I know certain students will be doing it. It's the old, choose your battles so why not acknowledge some students will resort to apps so they do well and because they struggle. 

When you are ready to introduce a new topic, consider using Photomath instead of the example in the textbook. To prepare for this, select the problems you want to use ahead of time so you can determine where possible misconceptions will happen, where students will have trouble, and places students will need clarification.  The nice thing about having all the students using the same app is that you do not have to write all the steps down on the board, instead you can project the results.  Once you have students all on the same problem, you can walk them through the steps needed to solve the problem, pointing out everything they need to know or think about.  

Another way to use Photomath is to have students work in small groups.  They look at the problem and rather than going straight to the answer, they learn to look at the structure and focus on different ways to solve the problem.  For instance, students might start with a problem like 3(x + 2) = 24. Photomath may start by distributing the 3 across the (x + 2) to get 3x + 6 = 24 and go from there but in this problem, you can also divide both sides by 3 to get x + 2 = 8.  Both methods work for this problem.

Furthermore, some apps allow a person the option of looking at more than one way of solving a specific problem.  For problems that fall into this category, have the students look at each of the methods and then discuss which method they believe is the best choice for this problem.  They can also do a compare and contrast of the different methods to see how they differ.

Furthermore, have the students work on a few practice problems and when everyone has completed the assignments, let them use Photomath to make corrections but they aren't just looking at the answer.  They are looking at the process they used to solve the problem.  They are looking for to identify the missteps the made in solving the problem.  This is a great place for a three column sheet.  The first column is where they do the problem, the second column is for the corrected version and the third column is where students explain what they did incorrectly and what they should have done.

It is fine to let students use Photomath at home to correct their homework but they should always take the time to figure out where they made a mistake and what they should have done to be correct.  These are several ways students can use Photomath or similar app in class to help with their learning. It is important to reassure students that making mistakes is just part of the learning process. If students are willing to do an error analysis for problems they miss, they will learn more.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.