After doing some reading about dyscalculia and looking at some maths apps, I thought I’d have a go at making my own and then reflect on the exercise in the context of relevant literature.

The rough plan at this point is to have a character who has been given $100 to spend, and they need to spend exactly $100 in a day to complete the challenge. From here there learners will be presented with options for ways to spend the money, which will utilise addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There will be no ‘right’ answer, and possibly no clear end, but it will rely on the learner’s ability to keep track of their spending in order to progress.

I’m planning on using google forms with branching, as this will be a very simple method for creating the prototype. The prototype will be targeted at young learners who would be encountering math problems at a similar level. Some things I’m thinking about currently:

• Will the element of choice for learners create more ownership over the experience
• Will there be a way for the program to keep track of their choices and the implications, and feed back ‘results’
• Will the text/narrative based format be any more accessible than numbers
• Will this have any merit in helping learners with dyscalculia
• What is the right demographic for this prototype?

More to come.