FAQs

Hardware:

Pentium Processor 1.6 Ghz or higher (or equivalent) 1GB RAM, minimum

Internet Connection:

High speed: 1,000 kbps down/ 250bps up. No matter how fast the network connection between workstation and server is, if other bandwidth-intensive activities (VoIP, streaming video, audio downloads, database backups, etc.) are running on the network at the same time, program performance may be impacted.

Browser Requirements:

PC:

• Firefox 24 or later, OR
• Chrome 30 or later
• Internet Explorer is NOT supported

Mac:

• Safari 6.0 or later, OR
• Chrome 30 or later

iOS:

• iPad 2.0 or later, with Safari

Kindle:

• Fire HDX or later, with Silk

Open Port 80 and 443 (normal web browsing)

JavaScript enabled

Accept Cookies

Pop-up Blocker Off (or set to accept pop-ups from c8sciences.com)

Because ACTIVATE runs right in your browser, clearing the cache can resolve many issues. If the games are “lagging” – running slowly – your computer or tablet’s processor might be having trouble keeping up. Try closing any other tabs or applications that might be running at the same time. If you continue to have problems, don’t hesitate to drop us a note using the form on this page.

On the School Portal and email reports, you will see your student’s work expressed in terms of “Progress” and “Percentile”. Progress is the best overall indicator of student success – it reflects both the number of levels completed and the speed at which the child is engaging with the program. Percentile puts that progress in context by showing you how your student’s work compares with thousands of other students in the ACTIVATE database of the same age. You will see a line graph on the Student Detail page that shows your student’s progress over time, along with the average growth curve of a student the same age.

The cognitive reports generated by ACTIVATE are printable PDF reports that describe in general terms how this program works and give crisp recommendations that can easily be shared with parents, other teachers, specialists, family members, or anyone involved in the child’s education.

ACTIVATE is not designed to be engaging in the same ways as commercially-available video games. While many kids – even those with ADHD – seem to be able to sustain attention to those games over time, commercial games can actually overwhelm the player’s brain with a stream of visual and audio stimulus that in effect hijack the brain systems needed to sustain attention over time. ACTIVATE requires the player to put some work into sustaining attention over time, while also performing increasingly complex cognitive tasks. This is how their powers of attention and self-control will benefit. If your student is bored with the games, it’s important that the experience not become confrontational or negative for either of you – but if they are just in the first few weeks of the program, we strongly recommend that they stick with it, as the levels will grow increasingly fast-paced and complex in the weeks to come.

We recommend completing the 20-minute workout five times a week, with three times a week being the minimum recommended “dose”. If the students are enjoying and benefiting from the program and want to do more, there’s no harm in doubling up and doing 40 minutes at a time. In order to avoid fatigue, we do not recommend more than two workouts a day.

Beginning on the 3^rd session – and running through the 5^th session – a series of cognitive tests will appear alongside the brain games – and the tests will repeat on the 10th session, and then after 800, 1,000 and 1,200 minutes. These are assessments based on the National Institutes of Health’s Toolbox of Cognitive Assessments. There are three tests:

• The Flanker Task: assesses focus and attention, and the ability to ignore distractors. Students see five arrows in a row pointing to the left or right. The students identify which way the middle arrow is pointing. It’s easy when all arrows point in the same direction but harder when the middle arrow points in the opposite direction. By looking at how quickly students react in relation to how accurately they identify the direction of the middle arrow, we can understand some basic information about their ability to focus, process information and ignore distraction.
• The Go/No Go Test: focuses on speed of information processing, and self-control. Students are instructed to tap the space bar or touchscreen when they see the letter P – but to refrain from tapping when they see the letter R. By looking at how quickly students react in relation to how often they got the “Go” signal accurately – and how often they refrained from acting on the “No-Go” signal – we can understand some basic information about their response inhibition and processing speed
• The Working Memory Test: an extremely challenging test, in which students are shown a sequence of pictures of animals (like Bear – Bird – Bunny), re-order the pictures in their minds from smallest to largest (Bird – Bunny – Bear) and then pick out the sequence in its new order by identifying the pictures in order from a grid of 12 animal pictures. The task repeats with longer sequences until the student can no longer keep them straight. The test then repeats with images of household objects in place of animals.

At the end of each 5-minute session, the data from that game is transmitted to the ACTIVATE database. You will never lose more than 5 minutes of data due to an unexpected loss of power or other interruption. If the connection to the internet is lost, a message will appear onscreen asking for the connection to be reset before the student moves on. If the student completes 2 games, and signs out leaving 2 unplayed – and then signs in again later that day – the remaining two games will be waiting. If they return the next day, an entirely new 4-game session will be waiting.