Facebook use could help drive maths ability

More time on Facebook could be a help rather than a hindrance to Irish teenagers’ maths ability as a new internet programme makes it a reward for sums supremacy.

The parents of 11 to 16-year-olds can use the Aftermath software created by Dubliner Ronan Higgins and his team to link time on social networking and other sites to their progress with a series of maths questions.

Using a driving game in which they choose a multiple choice answer from one of three toll booths, kids build up credits to be cashed in with internet time each time they get through one with the right answer.