Design of Educational and Digital Games for Students With Dyscalculia to Transfer Mathematics to Their Daily Lives

Introduction

Since humans are social beings living together, they have used mathematics even in ancient times. Let us think about the old times. Since people were creatures that produced and wanted to continue their lives, they traded to sell what they created and to meet their needs. These exchanges, which were previously made by barter, took place more in trade with the melting of copper and bronze and turning them into coins (Struik, 2002). Is it impossible to construct a shelter (tent, house, barracks, etc.) that is basic human without using mathematics? The fact that we use counting, the most basic operation in mathematics and which we sometimes call the “decision of the eye,” can be accepted by everyone. An illiterate individual was given two boxes filled with beads and asked to tell which one had more. It was observed that the person who performed this process took one bead out of each box and decided that if the beads were finished simultaneously, they were equal, and whichever box finished first had fewer beads. (King, 2003).

In the secondary school mathematics curriculum, reconsidered in 2013, the use of the history of mathematics in lessons increased. In the program, it was stated that sharing information about exciting and important discoveries in the history of mathematics, the lives of these people, and their contributions to mathematics will make mathematics lessons more meaningful for students (MEB 2013, p. VIII). There will always be a history of mathematics. It takes a great deal of effort to separate it from everyday life, and this effort is futile. Whether we like it or not, math is a balancing part of our body and brain. Is it possible not to learn if we use mathematics so much? We should start with the logic that everyone can learn mathematics. In this way, we, the mathematics teachers, have much work to do. We must use different teaching methods, such as gamification and cartooning. We must detect situations that prevent learning (such as dyscalculia, etc.) and coordinate with the relevant units to diagnose. In addition, we must associate the subjects with history and daily life.

There is the most challenging lesson of prejudice to remember when it is called “mathematics.” It is challenging for mathematics teachers to break this prejudice. The fact that parents claim their child is successful in all subjects except mathematics, the children's disbelief that they will do the mathematics lesson, and the constant low mathematics scores after the exams irritate mathematics teachers. So, why don't these situations recall the question, “Does the student have a learning disability in mathematics?” Children with difficulties learning mathematics, namely children with dyscalculia, have problems even with simple operations. Early detection of dyscalculia is critical for precautions and avoiding differences between peers. Sadi-Yılmaz, Othan, and Cantimur (2014) found that daily life-based practices enable learning how information is used; life-based learning helps students remember the information they learned in their later education and facilitates the learning of the following subjects to be learned. In addition, it has been found that daily life-based practices motivate students better and contribute to giving more space to the activities in the lessons. (İlhan, Doğan, & Çiçek, 2015). These findings aided in developing educational digital games for students with dyscalculia to help them transfer mathematics to everyday life.