New software to ease mathematics learning for primary students

Interactive Mathematics (IM) software has been proved to make it easier for primary students to learn mathematics after being piloted in six local primary schools that have One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) equipment in Kigali City and Nyagatare District.The IM software can be accessed with Positivo (Windows Laptop), tablets or smartphones, and has both offline and online versions.It is part of the “Verification Survey on Utilisation of ICT to Improve the Quality of Primary Mathematics Education in Rwanda,” a project that was implemented by SAKURA-SHA, a Japanese educational software and book publishing company in collaboration with Rwanda Education Board (REB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 2018.In addition, the Learning Management System (LMS) was also piloted as part of the project whereby teachers can follow students effectively and efficiently for enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.The project’s purpose includes verifying the effectiveness of the localised IM and discussing the way forward including how IM could contribute to Math class in public primary schools in Rwanda along the policy of ‘Smart Classroom.’On August 17, REB, JICA and SAKURA-SHA had a joint seminar to share the results and achievements of the project.Diane Sengati Uwasenga, Acting Head of Department of ICT in Education Department at REB, declared that the IM software is needed because not only is it tailored with the level of primary school students, it is in line with the competence based curriculum.She also said that the software is easy to use since it requires basic ICT skills to understand, adding that its features are entertaining as well which makes students feel like they are playing a game while learning at the same time.Uwasenga also noted that since it can be accessed offline, it can be a good answer to schools that are not connected to the internet but have ICT devices and electricity.It is expected that SAKURA-SHA will hand over the project to the government of Rwanda.REB first tested the IM software considering what they wanted and gave SAKURA-SHA a few suggestions to work on.After the piloting phase, it was declared 95 per cent effective. With that, Uwasenga believes it can help solve some issues regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics in primary schools.Kenya Yokohama, President and CEO of SAKURA-SHA, said that throughout the course of the project, IM software has helped children understand how to solve mathematics questions, and that results have shown that their grades have since increased.He revealed that the software is mostly used in Japan and that it was proved that when kids learn mathematics with it, their motivation to keep learning the subject boosts which steers them to getting good marks in the tests.Yokohama also noted that after the pilot project, they plan for the IM software to be installed in all schools in Rwanda, and later expand it to other African countries following results from Rwanda.

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New software to ease mathematics learning for primary students