Animal Farm

Description of the project:

Mathematics is a subject traditionally taught to visually impaired people by use of Braille, pencils and paper. The project is an attempt to use computers to enhance mathematics education for visually impaired children, and aims particularly at basic arithmetic for children aged 5 - 7. The child is presented with a workspace which mimics an animal farm. The farm is divided into a barn, field, yard and market. Animals can be moved within or between these locations. The user interface is largely auditory, allowing animals to make their traditional noise and speak its species when being dealt with.

The system is intended as a tool to be manipulated by the child and teacher jointly using only the keyboard. The teacher will create tasks to be completed which will require some mathematical knowledge on behalf of the child. It is intended that basic arithmetic will be learnt by the child inspecting of one or more locations. Knowledge gained from inspection may require actions to be performed, e.g., the animals in a location may require to be ordered.