MLC Number Pieces
Product by The Math Learning Center
Facts checked: Not yet checked
Our take (not a Learning Standard rating). This label applies to learning-science judgments throughout this overview.
Our take (not a Learning Standard rating)
MLC Number Pieces does not teach math independently because it lacks built-in lessons, feedback, or structured practice. However, as an open-ended digital manipulative, it successfully supports adult-led instruction by providing a highly effective virtual sandbox for visualizing place value, regrouping, and basic operations.
Pros
- Provides unlimited virtual base-ten blocks to model complex math problems without physical clutter.
- Includes a clear grouping and ungrouping feature to visually demonstrate regrouping in addition and subtraction.
- Features an annotation tool allowing students to write equations directly next to their modeled representations.
- Offers a distraction-free interface that minimizes cognitive load during active problem-solving.
Cons
- Lacks structured lessons, making it entirely dependent on adult instruction to guide learning.
- Provides no feedback mechanism to correct student mistakes or confirm accurate modeling.
- Does not track student progress or save historical work across multiple sessions.
- Contains no adaptive learning features or spaced retrieval practice to build long-term retention.
What Do We Know About MLC Number Pieces?
MLC Number Pieces is highly effective for visual learning when paired with direct adult instruction, but it will not teach your child math independently. This app is a digital sandbox, not a curriculum. It provides virtual base-ten blocks (units, rods of ten, and flats of one hundred) allowing your child to build numbers and visually break them apart. Learning science strongly supports the use of concrete and visual manipulatives to bridge the gap between physical counting and abstract numbers. When your child struggles with borrowing in subtraction or carrying in addition, this tool makes those abstract concepts visible. Because the app does not contain lessons, quizzes, or error correction, it requires you or a teacher to provide the math problems and guide the conceptual understanding. Your child will not receive automated feedback if they model a problem incorrectly. You must sit with them, ask them to represent a number, and watch as they group or ungroup the pieces. While The Learning Standard has not yet formally evaluated this tool, its design aligns perfectly with best practices for cognitive scaffolding in early elementary mathematics.
How Does MLC Number Pieces Work?
MLC Number Pieces uses an open-ended constructivist approach by providing virtual manipulatives without rigid pathways or automated instruction. The interface presents a blank workspace where students drag units (ones), rods (tens), and flats (hundreds) onto the screen to build visual representations of numbers. The core learning mechanic relies on the grouping and ungrouping tools. If a student needs to subtract 15 from 32, they can place three tens and two ones on the board, select one ten-rod, and click the ungroup button to shatter it into ten individual ones. This explicit visualization directly models the cognitive process of regrouping. The app also includes a drawing tool, enabling users to circle groups, write standard algorithmic equations alongside their blocks, or label arrays. Because it is an open workspace, there are no levels to unlock or mastery checks to pass. Users clear the board and start fresh for each new problem provided by their textbook, teacher, or parent.
Strengths and tradeoffs of MLC Number Pieces
The biggest strength of MLC Number Pieces is its ability to seamlessly visualize base-ten regrouping, while its biggest weakness is the complete absence of automated feedback or structured problem sets. Visual scaffolding is highly effective in mathematics, and this app excels at moving students from concrete physical blocks to purely abstract written numbers. By manipulating virtual tens and hundreds, students reduce their intrinsic cognitive load when learning complex operations like multi-digit division. The app's clear workspace prevents distraction, focusing attention entirely on the mathematical relationships. However, the lack of immediate feedback limits its utility as an independent practice tool. Without error correction, students can easily model a problem incorrectly and practice the wrong procedure, potentially reinforcing misconceptions. The app also lacks any form of spaced retrieval practice or interleaving, meaning it cannot help students build long-term retention of math facts. It functions purely as a momentary visualization aid. While highly capable at what it does, it relies entirely on the instructional design provided by the surrounding classroom or the parent guiding the session.
Who Might Benefit From MLC Number Pieces?
MLC Number Pieces is best for elementary students who need visual support to understand place value and standard algorithms alongside direct adult instruction. It is primarily designed for children in grades K-5 who are actively learning multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Parents looking for a clean, free alternative to purchasing physical base-ten blocks will find this app exceptionally useful for homework help. It is not suitable for students needing independent practice, drill-and-kill fluency games, or comprehensive math curricula. It works best as an intervention tool when a child hits a conceptual roadblock.
Data Transparency
Does Not Meet Data Transparency Standard
MLC Number Pieces does not meet our data transparency standard. Its privacy policy does not document basic protections, including limits on sharing children's data, a COPPA or FERPA commitment and parents' right to see their child's data.
13 of 35 checks passed
Evaluated September 2026
Apps Privacy Statement →Level 1 · Basic protections
Does not sell data or target ads at students, limits sharing, and lets parents see and delete their child's data.
Not documented: limits on sharing children's data, a COPPA or FERPA commitment, parents' right to see their child's data, parents' right to delete their child's data
Level 2 · Parent control (meets the standard)
Families can get their data out, know who processes it, and know how long it is kept.
Not documented: self-service deletion
Level 3 · Direct data access
Families or schools can pull their own data through an API, in a stated format.
Not documented: an API for retrieving their own data, a named export format
View all 35 checks
Parent Access0/8
Does the policy mention parents specifically?
The policy does not mention parents.
Can parents view their child's data?
The policy does not address parents viewing their child's data.
Can parents modify their child's data?
The policy does not address parents modifying their child's data.
Can parents delete their child's account?
The policy does not address parents deleting their child's data or account.
Is there a dedicated Children's Privacy section?
The policy has no dedicated children's privacy or COPPA section.
Does it reference COPPA compliance?
The policy does not reference COPPA.
Does it reference FERPA compliance?
The policy does not reference FERPA.
Is parental consent required for child accounts?
The policy does not address parental consent for child accounts.
Data Portability2/5
Can users access their personal data?
“If you wish to access, correct, update, or request deletion of your personal information, you can do so at any time as described in the “Updating & Correcting Personal Information” heading below.”
Can users download/export their data?
“In addition, you can object to processing of your personal information, ask us to restrict processing of your personal information, or request portability of your personal information. You can exercise these rights by contacting us at MLCinfo@mathlearningcenter.org.”
Is there a self-service data access tool?
The policy says access and other rights are handled by email request, not through a self-service tool.
Is a specific data format mentioned for export?
The policy does not name a data export format.
Is there an API for data access?
The policy does not describe an API for data access.
Data Minimization3/6
Is data collection itemized?
“some of the specific information we may collect automatically when you visit the Website includes usage data, such as the date and time of visit, duration of visit, type of web browser used, operating system/platform used, your IP address or mobile device ID, the websites from which you linked to the Website, and your CPU speed.”
Can the app be used without a real name?
“We will never ask you to provide us with your or someone else’s personal information in order to access, or while you are using, the Apps.”
Can the app be used without an email?
“We will never ask you to provide us with your or someone else’s personal information in order to access, or while you are using, the Apps.”
Does it state collection is limited to what is necessary?
The policy does not explicitly limit collection to what is necessary; the "to the extent necessary" wording applies only to sharing with service providers.
Is IP address anonymized or truncated?
The policy says IP addresses are collected and does not say they are anonymized or truncated.
Is location tracking explicitly excluded?
The policy says aggregated regional location data is collected and does not exclude location tracking.
Third-Party Protection5/7
Does it explicitly state no selling of data?
“Except in the limited circumstances stated in this Privacy Statement, we do not share, sell, or otherwise transfer or disclose your personal information to any third party.”
Are third-party providers named?
“Google Analytics™: We use Google Analytics™ on our Website to gather usage data from our Website, including our Web Apps.”
Are providers contractually restricted?
“These third parties are required to keep the information confidential and are not authorized to process your personal information or Automatically Collected Information for any other purpose other than as instructed by us.”
No-targeted-advertising commitment?
“We do not use any advertising, targeting, or marketing cookies on our Website or Apps.”
Is AI/ML data sharing addressed?
The policy does not address AI or machine learning.
Child-specific sharing restriction?
The policy has no sharing restriction specific to children.
Cookies/tracking limited or opt-out?
“Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies, though the methods for doing so may vary from browser to browser.”
Deletion & Retention3/5
Can users delete their account?
“If you request that your personal information be changed or deleted from our databases, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to remove your personal information from our databases”
Self-service deletion mechanism?
The policy says deletion is by email request and does not describe a self-service deletion tool.
Specific data retention timeline?
“Currently, Save States are set to automatically delete after two years from their last date of access.”
Auto-deletion of inactive accounts?
The policy auto-deletes inactive anonymous Save States but does not describe auto-deleting inactive accounts.
Post-deletion handling described?
“When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete it or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.”
Advertising0/4
Advertising model explicitly disclosed?
The policy says no advertising cookies are used but does not state whether the product shows advertising.
Free from third-party advertisements?
The policy does not state that the product is free of third-party advertisements.
Children excluded from ad targeting?
The policy has no ad-targeting exclusion specific to children.
Ad-free option available?
The policy does not say the product has no advertising or offer an ad-free option.
What This Means
The policy review did not meet our data transparency standard. The checks above show the documented findings and unknowns. A missing statement does not establish how the app handles data in practice.
About this evaluation: Based on automated analysis of Apps Privacy Statement against 35 policy-disclosure questions, including questions adapted from the Common Sense Privacy Program's published evaluation questions. TLS is not affiliated with Common Sense Media, and this is not a Common Sense rating. Quoted text is copied from the policy; unquoted notes are our summary. Results describe what the policy documents, not the company's actual practices. Privacy policies can change: this review reflects the version we analyzed and does not determine legal compliance.
Sources and review method
TLS combines product information and editorial analysis to explain how MLC Number Pieces works, its tradeoffs, and the questions to ask before choosing it. Product features, an instructional rationale and evidence of learning outcomes are different kinds of information.
Formal Learning Standard assessment: not yet completed. Data Transparency findings are reported separately and do not establish learning effectiveness. Read our methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions About MLC Number Pieces
Is MLC Number Pieces free?
Yes. The app is completely free to use on web browsers, iPads, and Chromebooks. The Math Learning Center provides this tool as a public service to support mathematics education, so there are no in-app purchases, hidden subscription tiers, or advertisements. Because it lacks commercial interruptions, your child can focus entirely on solving math problems without the cognitive distraction of pop-up ads or gamified monetization mechanics common in other educational apps.
Is MLC Number Pieces good for elementary students?
Yes, it is excellent for students in kindergarten through fifth grade when used alongside direct instruction. It specifically targets the critical developmental stage where children transition from counting tangible objects to performing abstract standard algorithms. Younger students can use the units and rods to understand basic place value up to one hundred. Older elementary students can use the flats to model complex multi-digit division arrays or fractional parts, making abstract concepts accessible.
What does MLC Number Pieces teach?
It does not teach math independently because it lacks direct instruction, lessons, and feedback. Instead, it functions as a highly effective digital manipulative. It provides the visual scaffolding necessary to help students understand place value, regrouping during addition and subtraction, and the geometric representation of multiplication and division arrays. You must provide the math equations and guide the learning process while your child uses the app to model the underlying mathematical logic.
How does MLC Number Pieces vs physical base-ten blocks compare?
Virtual blocks offer several distinct advantages over physical manipulatives, primarily an infinite supply of pieces without the mess or cost. The app's digital ungroup button demonstrates the concept of regrouping much more clearly than physically trading one ten-rod for ten individual unit blocks. Furthermore, the virtual annotation tools allow students to write equations directly next to their models. However, physical blocks still offer essential tactile, kinetic feedback that many early kindergarten learners require.
Has The Learning Standard evaluated MLC Number Pieces?
TLS has not yet completed a Learning Standard evaluation of how well MLC Number Pieces teaches. Its privacy policy has been reviewed for Data Transparency and does not yet document the basic protections (Level 1).
Is MLC Number Pieces COPPA compliant?
A COPPA reference was not found in the reviewed privacy policy. This does not determine whether the app complies with COPPA. Policy review note: The policy does not reference COPPA.
Is MLC Number Pieces FERPA compliant?
A FERPA reference was not found in the reviewed privacy policy. This does not determine whether the app complies with FERPA. Policy review note: The policy does not reference FERPA.
Does MLC Number Pieces have a children's privacy policy?
No dedicated children's privacy section was found in the reviewed policy. Policy review note: The policy has no dedicated children's privacy or COPPA section.
Does MLC Number Pieces sell student data?
The reviewed policy states that the app does not sell data. This is a policy statement; actual data practices were not verified. Policy review note: The policy states MLC does not sell personal information.
Can you delete your data from MLC Number Pieces?
The reviewed privacy policy describes account deletion. We have not tested the deletion process. Policy review note: Users can request deletion of their personal information.
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