The Use of a Toy to Help Children Learn Mathematics A Design and Classroom Case Study

• Main Authors: Jia-Shiun Li, 李佳勳
• Other Authors: Bai-Shan Ba
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/d3emdm

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 數位科技設計學系(含玩具與遊戲設計碩士班) === 101 === Mathematics is one of the most important school subjects, but many children are scared of it, and especially of the exercises. But practice in arithmetic skills is a vital part of learning math well. This study describes a toy that was designed to encourage children to enjoy the experience of learning basic arithmetic, such as simple addition and subtraction. We chose four children, who had some room for improvement in their math skills, and gave them the toys to use in the math class. We used case study methods and collected data by observation of the subjects’ progress, as well as by the use of exams and interviews. It was found that the use of the toys also encouraged the teacher to devise more innovative learning activities which greatly improved the pupil’s engagement in learning. The activities gave them more motivation to learn as well as more opportunity for practice. The pupils who used this toy not only enjoyed their math exercises more, but were also more attentive in class and more confident in their ability to learn the subject. They slowly began, in a simple way, to understand the significance of learning math and that the accumulation this basic knowledge was an important step that simply had to be taken. Exam scores for the four subjects were also better than before. Their ability to get the right answers improved as did their speed of progress, although each child’s individual progress was different. In addition we prepared a generalized, step by step, toy design procedure for teachers to make it easy for them to make this kind of device for use in their own classrooms.