Learning

Bunja maths toy - review

Summary: Review by a teacher of a maths toy which incorporates the story of a boy's adventures in the rainforest.

• Activities carried out
• Conclusions
• Ordering

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Pat Norman is a Senior Specialist Teacher for children with a visual impairment at Essex County Council and she kindly agreed to review the Bunja maths toy (LC181) with one of her students.

Jordan is in Year 3 and is working at level 3. Jordan's eye condition is Severe Macular Degeneration and his reading format is braille. Jordan began to lose his sight when he was four, and now has only light perception. When he had a little residual vision he used to enjoy playing computer games. Though he has speech software on the computer he uses, he has not found it easy to adapt. He is good at maths.

Activities carried out

Jordan used the Bunja game to practice his mental maths and as a reward when he had completed other work. At first he tended to press the buttons at random, but he managed to use them correctly after a little encouragement. He was more interested in the mental maths activities than in the game itself, which was far removed from his experience.

Conclusions

The braille markings on the keys were small and difficult to feel, but it was not hard to remember what the keys did by their positions.

The voice was clear, but it was difficult to distinguish some of the numbers (e.g. 18 and 80). Sometimes the questions were asked using language which Jordan was not familiar with e.g. what’s the difference between 24 and 32? We needed to pause the game to check his understanding.

The toy assesses one’s mathematical level by the number of attempts or wrong answers. There was a risk that questions might get too hard too quickly and so reduce the child’s motivation.

Jordan was pleased that his skill level had gone up in the course of the session. For him, that was sufficient incentive; he found the game itself less interesting. I can see that other students would enjoy the adventure.

Jordan has really enjoyed having the opportunity to use the game.

Ordering

To order the Bunja maths toy (LC181) or to view our full product range, please visit the online shop, call RNIB Customer Services on 0846 702 3153 or email cservices@rnib.org.uk.

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Content author: parents@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 22/07/2008 10:47