The following explanatory notes can help you introduce your students to the Calcularis concept. Please adjust the content to students‘ ages.
Our brain consists of around 150 billion individual neurons (nerve cells). These neurons can form connections between one another and exchange information. Connections that are no longer needed can be abolished by the brain.
- When we learn new things, new connections are formed. When we repeat and consolidate things we have learned, the connections become stronger. Networked knowledge can be accessed more easily and quickly and is stored by our brains for longer, because more neurons are involved in remembering it.
Visualization Ants: To begin with, ants fan out individually to search for food. Once they have found a food source, they form an ant trail. This trail remains intact, even in the event of disruption. - Frequent repetition of the same or similar tasks encourages individual regions of the brain to become specialised in the processing of these tasks. This allows these tasks to be solved more quickly and with less expenditure of effort. This ability of the brain to adapt to frequent tasks is referred to as brain «plasticity».
Visualization Muscles: If you lift heavy things regularly, the arm muscles become bigger and stronger and the lifting of heavy objects becomes easier. - Alongside the efficient execution of everyday tasks, this special- ization of individual brain regions allows the brain to free up more capacity and attention for new, more complex tasks. This makes it all the more important to support this specialization process.
Visualization Football: A striker must be fit. Only then will he or she be able to focus on the shot after a long sprint and consider where the goalkeeper is positioned and where the shot should go.
When we learn how to do maths, various regions of the brain specialize particularly in the following tasks:
- Processing of amounts (incl. estimation, comparison)
- Number words (incl. retrieval of maths facts)
- Numerals and Arabic notation (incl. written tasks)
- Concept of a number line (incl. estimating calculations, arithmetics)
Visualization Oral exercise: «What‘s eleven times ten?» If you present this question in the form of number words, students will likely be quick to picture the numbers 10 and 11 - that is, to convert to Arabic numerals. Some of them will do this automatically. Those who are experienced with mental arithmetic will be able to solve the problem easily by adding a 0 to the 11 - again, perhaps automatically. Their visualization of a number range will allow them to guesstimate that an answer of 110 is approximately correct.
In Calcularis, the various game types are designed to simultaneously engage as many brain regions as possible by representing numbers as amounts, number words, Arabic numerals or positions on a number line. Calcularis also promotes the networking of these regions and the user‘s ability to switch between different forms of representation using:
- Colors and animations
- A 3D number line combining elements of the different forms
In doing so, Calcularis makes it easier for the brain to specialize in basic skills and lays the groundwork for freeing up capacity for complex calculations.