On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 04:04, Christian Horne <[email protected]> wrote: > this is a good idea except that animation generally sucks on the XO. > other than that...
I think that animations where only a small part of the screen is redrawn will work fine. Regards, Tomeu > On 5/27/09, Shawn Willden <[email protected]> wrote: >> At the Utah OLPC meeting my son and I volunteered (were volunteered?) to >> cover >> 4.N.12 in the curriculum, which is addition of up to five-digit numbers and >> multiplication of up to three digits by two digits. >> >> This note is intended as both an update on our progress, and a request for >> comments. All suggestions/corrections/flames are welcome. >> >> Not satisfied with my own ability to effectively teach fourth grade math, I >> enlisted the aid of my son's (fifth-grade) teacher, Mrs. Woody (copied on >> this e-mail), and she pulled in a few other third and fourth grade teachers. >> >> I asked them how they teach multiplication, and we brainstormed a bit on how >> we can effectively translate those techniques to software. >> >> By the way... I *highly* (highly!) recommend that anyone working on the 4th >> grade math project find a local teacher who has experience teaching the >> concepts to children. Particularly with simple math, knowing how to do it >> is >> *very* different from knowing how to teach it. >> >> Some of the constraints that we think we're working under are: >> >> 1. We are providing only a piece of software, and we can't know exactly >> what >> explanations will accompany it. So, ideally, it would be good if the >> student >> could learn to do multiplication ONLY given the operation of the software. >> This is a didactic activity not a practice activity. >> >> 2. Any textual or verbal explanations provided by the activity will have to >> be translated for every country that will use it. So it makes sense to >> minimize the use of text and speech, and to teach the process as much as >> possible with numbers, arrows, and animations. I do want to use audio cues >> for emphasis, but those don't need to be verbal. >> >> 3. XO storage capacity is limited, so extensive imagery and audio files are >> a >> bad idea (and outside of my skill set to produce in any case). >> >> Within those constraints, though, we think there is a lot that can be done >> with animation and simple sound effects. >> >> One of the points that the teachers emphasized is the importance of teaching >> children not only the mechanical process of long multiplication, but also >> the >> importance of place values, and their role in why the process works. To >> that >> end, they recommended teaching long multiplication by "pulling apart" the >> steps. >> >> For example, given the problem 284 x 48, that problem can be broken down >> into >> two sub-problems: 248 x 8 and 248 x 40, the results of which must be summed. >> >> Visually, we think we want to present the whole problem on the left-hand >> side >> of the screen and then pull it apart with an animation by having the >> constituent sub-problems "fly" to the right side of the screen, leaving the >> whole problem in place. >> >> Each sub-problem will then be worked separately, and as each result is >> completed, it will "fly" over to slot into place under the whole problem. >> Finally, the addition will be performed. >> >> Animation will also be applied to carries. A digit-pair multiplication will >> be performed by the student and the result written in its place underneath >> the multiplicands, and then the carry digit will "fly" up to its place. >> >> For example, after the multiplication of 5 x 5, we'd have: >> >> 85 >> x 5 >> --- >> 25 >> >> And then the '2' would fly around, shrink a bit and settle above the '8' in >> the carry location. >> >> The teachers also suggested an incremental teaching process, whereby the >> computer does more of the work at first, eventually leading to the child >> doing the problem entirely without help. We envision this proceeding >> according to the following steps: >> >> 1. Fly-apart demonstration mode, no carries. This might be used by a >> teacher >> to demonstrate the process, without student or interaction, or by a >> student "self-teaching". At this first level, the problems would have no >> carries. The computer would perform all of the animations, step by step >> with >> the click of a "next" button, and it would break the problem apart as >> described above. >> >> 2. Fly-apart handhold mode, no carries. The computer walks the student >> through each step of the process, visually highlighting, for example, pairs >> of digits to be multiplied or added and prompting the student to enter the >> answer. Still no carries. >> >> 3. Fly-apart corrective mode, no carries. The student performs all of the >> steps in order, and the computer indicates whenever the student makes a >> mistake, not allowing the student to proceed in an incorrect manner. >> >> 4. Fly-apart demonstration mode, with carries. >> >> 5. Fly-apart handhold mode, with carries. >> >> 6. Fly-apart corrective mode, with carries. >> >> 7. Normal demonstration mode, with carries. In this mode we would start >> the "normal" long multiplication process, performing it in place rather than >> separating out the sub-problems. >> >> 8. Normal handhold mode, with carries. >> >> 9. Normal corrective mode, with carries. >> >> 10. Drill and practice mode. Just like normal corrective mode, but without >> the corrections, just a correctness indicator after the problem is complete. >> >> 11. Test mode. The student answers a series of problems and receives a >> score >> at the end. >> >> In the above sequence, each demonstration mode would normally occur only >> once, >> followed by a handhold mode 2-3 times, followed by a corrective mode >> repeated >> until the child does it without making process errors. >> >> There is probably value in having the demonstration modes be "shareable", so >> that a whole class can watch a demonstration, but we're not sure we see >> collaborative value in any of the rest of it. I'd think all problems worked >> and the results should probably be logged to the journal. >> >> Those are our current thoughts on multiplication. Addition is similar, but >> simpler, with fly-apart and animated carries. And, obviously, long addition >> must be mastered before long multiplication is attempted. >> >> Any comments? Are we overthinking this? Any other ideas about how >> collaboration might be usefully incorporated? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Shawn and Ethan >> >> >> >> P.S. from Shawn: This project will probably take many months to complete. >> Ethan, my 11 year-old son will be doing nearly all of the programming, under >> my close guidance. He's just learning to program, so it will proceed >> slowly, >> especially at first. >> _______________________________________________ >> utos-olpc mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.utos.org/mailman/listinfo/utos-olpc >> > > > -- > the blendmaster > _______________________________________________ > FourthGradeMath mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/fourthgrademath > _______________________________________________ FourthGradeMath mailing list [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/fourthgrademath
