For Families » Think Mathematically

How Villainy, Inc. Helps Children Think Mathematically

Villainy is about problem-solving.
The problems users will encounter here are not linear. There isn't an algebra mission or a statistics mission. Each mission activity encourages users to marshal all their mathematics thinking skills to:

• apply what they have learned, and
• build on that basis to move forward in their mathematical thinking.

Today's world is changing. In order to succeed academically and financially, people need to be able to do more with mathematics than memorize facts or fill in answers on worksheets. They need to be able to analyze, deconstruct, synthesize, and solve complex problems using mathematics. Villainy, Inc. gives them one way to develop this highly-prized skill.

Villainy is intriguing.
Each mission brings users into the often-zany world of Dr. Wick and his sidekick, the Platypus. Here, they are challenged to solve a problem, not just because they have to, but because they want to. Their success in the game depends on it.

The characters and situations users find on this site are kid-tested and kid-approved. Users are engaged immediately by the animated world in which they find themselves. They are supported as they work to solve the problems and rewarded when they do.

Villainy encourages many ways to solve the same problem.
Every mathematician knows that there are many ways to think about and solve each mathematics problem. The important thing, they feel, is finding a method that makes sense to the individual, one that they have crafted in response to the challenge the problem presents. In this way, kids develop strong math "muscles" that will help them tackle even more complex math.

That's what Villainy was designed to do: encourage users to think about a problem and find a logical way to solve it — developing their math "muscles" along the way.

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