[kde-edu]: Math Software for young children

[Marc Heyvaert]

Hello,

I agree with the need to differentiate not only the
content but also the user interface depending on the
age of the students. Althought the KDE-interface helps
developement I feel that it is also impeding the
design of a radically different interface.

In Holland there is a company that specialises in
educational CDRoms (very inexpensive too). The website
is 

http://www.edurom.nl/

I would suggest that you have a look at the
'lesbrieven', explanations and instructions for
teachers who are thinking of using the packages (just
click 'Lesbrieven' in the menu). The colors indicate
the age groups of the programs. The documents are in
MS-word format, they are in dutch but I suggest you
open them to examine the screenshots. The similarity
between the screenshots indicates that there is a
common library, but it has nothing to do with the
common UI of windowed environment like Windows or KDE
or Gnome. The icons are clear, large and there is no
other stuff clutering the screen. The program always
runs in full screen mode.

I think that if we kde-edu wants to be successful
there should be a concerted effort to create a
'workspace' environment, meant to be run full screen
that offers this kind of interface as a minimum. On
top of that educational specialists could create
content without being developers.

I would love to create something like that but
unfortunately I'm no developer. I've tried to become
one but I seem to lack an essential chip somewhere in
my brain :)

Regards

Marc


--- Clay Harryman <clayharryman at houston.rr.com> wrote:

> I am a stay-at-home homeschool dad with two young
> children (ages 6 and 
> almost 2).  My wife and I are teaching our children
> using our home-grown 
> cirriculum for math.  It is working quite well, but
> we need to be 
> present to help at all times.  My experience is that
> properly designed 
> software allows us to get her started and then cook
> dinner or do 
> laundry.  I should note at this time that, while
> both of us are college 
> educated, neither of us is a professional educator. 
> I have a BS in 
> Computer Science, while my wife mastered in Public
> Administration.
> 
> What I have envisioned, long before I decided to
> install Linux, and 
> longer before I ever heard of KDE, was a tool that
> would have the 
> following traits:
> 
>    1. Parent involvement
>          1. Parents must control the 'level' of the
> software
>          2. The software should deliver reports
> about the student's
>             progress and recommend advancement or
> remedial steps.
>          3. Parents should be encouraged to help the
> children, not just
>             put them on the computer to fend for
> themselves.
>    2. Fun:  I wrote a program using Delphi for
> Windows (my
>       wife/children's computer is running XP) that
> teaches math. 
>       Problem is, the interface was rather bland. 
> My kids wanted
>       nothing to do with it.  I was disappointed and
> erased it.  I
>       cannot develop a fun interface -- I'm too
> technical.  Ideal
>       software would:
>          1. Use cartoon characters and animation
> would be a huge plus --
>             especially at the 4-8 year old range.
>          2. Talk to the kids through the sound
> system
>          3. Encourage kids to advance, rather than
> keep working an
>             'easy' level (a trait I found lacking in
> most of the
>             software we have purchased for Windows).
>    3. Specific levels:
>          1. Adding (examples):
>                1. Single-digit adding without
> 'carrying' (5+4, 1+2, etc.).
>                2. Single-digit adding with carrying
> (5+6, 9+9, etc.).
>                3. Multi-digit adding with carrying
> (39+83, etc.).
>                4. Multi-row adding (469+238+312,
> etc.)
>          2. Subtracting (examples):
>                1. Single-digit subtraction without
> 'borrowing' (5-4,
>                   9-2, etc.).
>                2. Multi-digit subtraction without
> 'borrowing' (18-5, etc.)
>                3. Multi-digit subtraction with
> borrowing (15-8, etc.)
>          3. Etc., etc., etc.
>    4. Grow with the child (this may be too much):
>          1. Begin with simple counting
>          2. Introduce putting groups together (3
> oranges + 4 oranges =
>             how man oranges?)
>          3. Show the relationship between #4-2 and
> adding numbers (3+4=?)
>          4. When adding at a certain level,
> introduce subtraction - I
>             don't know where the twain should meet,
> however.
>          5. Keep growing /at the child's pace/ and
> produce a report for
>             the parents at the end of each day.
> 
> If anyone is interested in helping me pursue this
> project, please e-mail 
> me - clayharryman at houston.rr.com
> <mailto:clayharryman at houston.rr.com>.  
> I've never been very good at object-oriented stuff,
> but I'm trying to 
> learn java via the web.  I do have some basic plans
> laid out based on 
> our research.
> 
> Thank you,
> Clay Harryman
> _______________________________________________
> kde-edu mailing list
> kde-edu at mail.kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-edu
> 



		
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