It’s so nice to see that the app is appreciated for its core features, such as no distraction when the child is learning the numbers and rewards to keep the interest up. If you’d like to read more about the principles behind the app, and about the Thinkout idea over all, take a look at this book.

In short, the mention of the app is interesting since it’s based on the research by Diana Laurillard, whose research the app is based on.

Further, Thinkout is very happy for this mention, since we strive to create apps for enhanced learning, and that’s exactly what Macworld Sweden is picking up.

Read the review here (Swedish).

Dr Keith Devlin

Not just a celebrity as The Math Guy on the National Public Radio in the US, Dr. Keith Devlin is also the founder of the H-Star Institute at  the Stanford University. And, as if that wasn’t enough, he’s published more than 30 books on mathematics (e.g. The Language of Mathematics: Making the Invisible Visible and the Mathematics Education for a New Era: Video Games as a Medium for Learning) and is a columnist at the Huffington Post.

The dedicated bicycler, blogger and numerously awarded mathematician shares the view of learning with Thinkout’s founder, Rolf Skoglund. Dr. Devlin even gave his support in the book Thinkout produced in the working with Number Bonds by Thinkout.

We managed to get a couple of precious moments of this sharp mind’s time. Of course, we wanted to pick his brains on learning math and specifically children learning math, since it’s a common interest to Dr. Devlin and us at Thinkout.

What role has mathematics played in your life?

“Mathematics has been the main focus of my life since I was sixteen. That was the age when I discovered that what I had previously disjoint collection of techniques to solve problems was a cohesive whole that humans had cumulatively developed over thousands of years to do things in the world.”

Why is mathematics important to you?

“Doing mathematics satisfies me on several levels. It provides constant intellectual challenges, its inner beauty gives me aesthetic pleasure, and it enables me to make a good living traveling around the world and working with some of the smartest people on the planet!”

Do you think parents should encourage their children to learn mathematics? And if so, why and how?

“I think parents should encourage and support their children to do whatever interests them. The main consideration for any child is to find something you are passionate about, and then pursue it.  In my case, that turned out to be mathematics, but it won’t work for everyone. Of course, besides pursing a passion, we can all gain satisfaction from knowing a little about things other people do, and you need some understanding to do that. Any person who does not know enough about mathematics to gain enjoyment from the work mathematicians do is missing something in their lives. I cannot play a musical instrument well, but I know enough about music to enjoy it!”

You’ve been an appreciated and successful teacher in mathematics for many years. In your opinion, what are the possibilities and the role of digital tools in the learning situation?

“Digital tools provide teachers with tools they have never had before, and they can make a huge difference. They will never replace a good human teacher. But they can make that teacher better! It’s like medicine. If I am sick, I want to visit a real doctor. But I expect that doctor to use the latest technologies!”

Huge thanks to Dr. Keith Devlin for your time!

Our app Number Bonds by Thinkout is created to help people understand numbers as early as possible. Understanding numbers is vital for learning math. Something Professor Diana Laurillard has understood – something that made her devote her research on how to help children with dyscalculia and number understanding issues. It’s about much more than just the numbers itself: on a personal level it’s about self confidence, on the society level it’s about creating a functional environment for everyone. Read the interview with Professor Laurillard, on who’s research Number Bonds by Thinkout is based.

1) Why have you spent so much time working with pedagogics and mathematics?

I used to teach maths at university level and was shocked at how little people really understood maths, even when they had passed exams. Now my focus is on those who struggle even to understand the concept of number and basic arithmetic. It is worth my time because it is so important to individuals and it is possible to create interactive games that really make a difference to them.

2) Why is mathematics so important? Couldn’t one go about an entire life without ever caring about it?

It is fundamental to understanding the world around us. Mathematical modelling is how we understand the universe, the economy, how to succeed in sport, the world of business, the world of finance and the world of IT…. Many things. The people who can use it are those who are most powerful. Powerful people who fail to use it well can destroy our society. People who cannot use it are oppressed and exploited by those who can. It is as important as being able to read and write, but our education systems are content with far too little capability in maths.

3) Do you have any tips to parents regarding their children and mathematics  - number difficulties or not?

Parents can help their children by being proud of their ability to be good at it and sympathetic if they find it hard. Struggling with maths is nothing to do with how clever you are. It is very good to talk about maths, to get the child to describe what they are doing and why, as this can help them see what they are uncertain about, and can help the parent see what they don’t understand. For parents who struggle with maths, never let the child think it is ok to ignore it; instead get the school to help them.

Nice badge!

Apps4Kids just finished a review of Number Bonds by Thinkout… And we’re happy to say that they found the app appealing. Enough so to put it in their top 10-list of tested apps! This is what they wrote:

“Why we like this app?
A fantastic introduction to numbers through visualizing quantities. Adorable characters and a fantastic interface. A must have!”

(read the review)

We’re both grateful and proud! During the work with the app, a lot of effort was put into creating likable but not distracting graphics. It was a true challenge, especially since there’s so many nice looking apps out there. One of the fundaments of Thinkout – a driving force for the founder Rolf Skoglund as findings by Professor Diana Laurillard (on who’s research the app was based) – is to work with the curiosity of children, something that can be done by working with their passion: play. And there, great graphics certainly isn’t to your disadvantage.

Number Bonds by Thinkout is nominated!

About.com has an award where readers gets to nominate and vote for the best app for children with special needs. It’s called Favorite Special Needs App, and Number Bonds by Thinkout, suiting for anyone who wants to learn numbers – special needs or not – was nominated! We’re so proud, and especially so since a nomination in this prestigious category means that the app delivers to the hardest group of all.

Number Bonds by Thinkout is based on research on children with dyscalculia (number blindness), so it doesn’t come as a great surprise to us, but none the less – it’s plenty of joy to see it in the nominee list. With its focus on using the child’s curiosity and passion for play, the app sets the child in a situation where learning numbers can be done without stress and being positively reinforced from feedback loops. It optimizes the learning, and learn children with difficulties understanding number grasping the concept as well as starting the learning of number earlier than would otherwise be the case with children without number difficulties – with parents eager to set their child onto a learning path.

Thank’s to everyone out there that nominated us for the award! If you haven’t voted: it’s open until March 21 – vote now!

Think about this situation: you’re blind, or almost. When taking a walk, you have a white cane as your assistance. To avoid objects standing still it’s great. But when crossing a street, there’s not much the cane can do about cars in motion. Therefore, you’re guided by a ticking sound when crossing the street. The cars stops at the red light, and you walk towards the ticking sound at the other side of the road. But what if there’s a lot of traffic, making lots of sound?

”The solution is adapting the volume to the surroundings”, says Gustav, one of the programmers responsible of translating the idea of Number Bonds to an app. He talks about the idea of adaptive technology, something he hadn’t used before starting to work with Number Bonds by Thinkout. ”In the same way that the sound adapts to the surroundings, the speed of the rods falling in Number Bonds by Thinkout adapts to the learners ability. Amongst other things. Even the ”tutorial” is adaptive, since it only shows if the learner has problems starting the game play.”, continues Gustav.

Using adaptive technology isn’t very common in the edutainment (or education, for that matter) sector. Rather, the regular way is repeating the assignment, missing the chance of optimizing the learning curve to the student’s abilities. If a student needs time to solve the problem, let time be given! It’s one of the most important lessons from Professor Diana Laurillard’s research, on which Number Bonds by Thinkout is based. Adaptivity is one of the advanced features you can’t see when playing the game, but it’s what makes the difference.

”Since it isn’t to regular using adaptive technology, it wasn’t to easy to get it into the app. It’s one story to program adaptivity, but a totally different one to find the right levels. If we didn’t make the adaptivity, it would be yet another of those apps trying to bore the learner to understanding. I’m glad we made it.”, says Gustav.

There’s a lot of writing out there on adaptivity and the possibility to enhance learning by using it. Here’s a one year old example from Meg Wilsons (special educations teacher in Amity Middle School Orange in southern Connecticut and Apple Distinguished Educator): Breaking Down Barriers Between General Education and Special Education and here’s some other thoughts from Karla at Totthoughts: parenting in an digital era.

According to the articles, the students perform well on the national tests they have to take. And they appreciate that digital tools allow the students to get immediate feedback – does it sound like something built into an app we might like to talk about (wink, wink)? Teachers feedback is great, but it can only be immediate to one student at a time. We just hope, given the result of the research we’ve based Number Bonds by Thinkout on, that no matter if the feedback comes from a digital tool or a teacher, it’s positive and reinforcing success without punishing mistakes.

So, what good can the use of digital tools do according to the articles?

• immediate feedback to each student.
• kids don’t get stuck in parts of the assignments where motor skills aren’t yet as developed as their intellectual capacity.
• the possibility of developing in one’s own pace – doesn’t have to feel like you’re the only one in class not understanding (meaning: spend more time on learning and less on worrying about what others can or can’t.

To us, there’s also another aspect: the chance of using the teachers as the incredible resource they are. Given the right software in the digital tools, the teacher can, at least partly, leave the teaching behind and start focusing on facilitating learning. When students interact with tools that sparks their curiosity, the teacher can focus on the the moments when guidance is needed – and do it on an individual level.

The most important of it all comes from Maria Stockhaus, politician in Sollentuna Municipality. We can only agree with her when she says that it’s all about preparing the kids for the future!

*http://www.dn.se/sthlm/vi-tror-inte-pa-klassiska-laromedel and http://www.dn.se/sthlm/surfplattor-ersatter-skolbocker-i-sollentuna (both in Swedish)

The app enhances learning through stimulating curiosity and passion. By using positive reinforcement from feedback loops it gets really efficient. It’s years of research in pedagogy, technology and neuroscience boiled down to one neat little app where the child helps a space traveller through his voyage between planets – all while learning numbers without even thinking about it.

Don’t hesitate to send us comments or questions! Contact us.