BESA CORNER
In our regular feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, Education Today this month hears from BOB HEXT, Director of Crossbow Education; and LAURA YOUNG SANTOS of DoodleMaths.
Not everything is black
and white By BOB HEXT, Director of Crossbow Education
“The idea that black print on white paper (or a white screen) may of itself cause reading difficulties still gets bad press in some quarters, particularly if this problem (visual stress) is confused with dyslexia. Maybe the idea that something as simple as a coloured filter can at times dramatically increase reading speed and
comprehension, or that a child’s writing and spelling can improve just by using the correctly tinted exercise book, just seems too good to be true. However the fact remains that thousands of children every year benefit (sometimes dramatically) from the award-winning range of coloured overlays, reading rulers and tinted exercise books supplied by visual stress and dyslexia resource specialists Crossbow Education Ltd. “The science behind “cortical hyperexcitability” is simple: someone
with visual stress is experiencing over-stimulation of certain cells in the visual cortex caused by a specific wavelength of light. By filtering out the wavelength that is causing the problem, the source of the interference (letters or words seeming to move around, other text distortions, headaches etc) is removed and reading and writing becomes easier. “Research carried out by Birkbeck College, University of London,
with 72 children at a North London primary school, found that children’s reading speed increased by up to 32% when using a Crossbow reading ruler. “Writing on white paper is also an issue. A child with visual stress
writing on white has a “double whammy” of distortion: first when she is writing, and the marks she puts on the paper are distorted as she writes, and second when she attempts to read what she has written, and the distorted writing is distorted again as she looks at it. Tinted exercise books cost more than white ones because of the price of coloured paper, but the value to a child of being able to write more clearly and accurately is of course immense – as can be the saving on costly interventions, in both staff time and resources, to improve spelling that just needed tinted paper for the letters to be clear. The problem can be even more evident in maths, where clarity of presentation is essential for accurate calculation. “Many children present literacy and numeracy problems. Some
have a diagnosis of dyslexia, dyscalculia or another SpLD; others have no identifiable learning difference but just seem to struggle with reading and writing, whether words or numbers – maybe a lot, maybe just a bit. Although awareness of Visual Stress is much more widespread now than 10 years ago, it is still overlooked in many schools and post-16 establishments, and many students go through their entire educational career under-achieving because they were never given a 20-minute assessment to ensure that the basic experience of reading and writing marks on a page – textbook, worksheet, exercise book or computer – was fully accessible to them, and the inexpensive and sometimes life-changing resources that can make this possible were never made available. “Crossbow Education’s Visual Stress Collection (overlays, reading
rulers, assessment pack and tinted exercise books) won the Education Resources Awards SEN Product of the Year in 2015. Visit
www.crossboweducation.com to see the full range.”
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www.education-today.co.uk
Developing effective private education -
DoodleMaths in Nigeria By LAURA YOUNG SANTOS, DoodleMaths
“Last month, Tom Minor, co- founder of EZ Education (makers of DoodleMaths), visited 23 slum schools in Lagos, Nigeria, as part of a project funded by UK Aid to improve educational outcomes through technology. We asked him about how children learn maths in such schools, and the impact that technology can have.
““Right now, children in most schools are taught with the barest of
resources,” said Tom. “It’s a little-known fact that in Nigeria – like many other developing countries – most children are educated in low- cost private schools with fees substantially less than $1 per day. But having to operate on such tiny budgets mean that resources we take for granted – from text books and photocopiers to electricity and data connectivity – are often non-existent. And this has a huge impact on the way children learn maths.” “A typical classroom is small – perhaps the size of a living room –
and will house 30 children. This leaves little room for elbows, let alone the usual requirements for a good maths lesson such as text books and pencil cases! Children manage with exercise books alone – and in some schools, even paper is a scarce resource. “Computing is part of the curriculum in Nigeria. It is taught using
old textbooks and rote chanting. Most children had previously seen a monitor before, however, when it came to using tablets, almost none had used one before. ““Teachers typically work to a three-part lesson plan. The first part
of a maths class will be similar to any school, the teacher introducing the concept after perhaps recapping previously-acquired knowledge, and usually referring to some pre-written examples on the board,” explained Tom. "The second part is where you notice a difference: when it comes to practice, it is limited to chanting, or answering questions from the board. These questions tend to be restricted to ones that can be written quickly.” This means that questions such as “7 - 5” are frequently seen; questions such as “Mo has 7 sweets, then eats 5. How many does he have left?” are never seen. Consequently, children are fluent in the fundamentals, but when it comes to reasoning mathematically, or solving problems, they struggle. Furthermore, while their mental arithmetic is good, when it comes to other areas of the curriculum which involve equipment, such as measuring lines and angles or visualising 3D shapes, their knowledge is substantially behind that of a child in the UK. “This is where tablet computers can help. DoodleMaths, which was
used on the tablets in Lagos, gave them access to over 20,000 questions at primary level – many involving word problems or multi- stage calculations. In addition, children can use “virtual” protractors, rulers and measuring jugs. As with any online system, they get instant feedback on their responses. And of course the exposure to technology in itself has had a huge impact on their learning and confidence. ““There’s no doubt children have benefited in multiple ways as a
result of this project,” stated Tom. “It’s inspiring for us all to be part of it, and the more children we can extend this to, the better.””
May 2018
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