Narrative interface model to facilitate children's mathematical reasoning

This work develops and experimentally evaluates the prototype of a digital narrative interfacethat pretends to, simultaneously, exercise the reading comprehension and the resolution ofelementary verbal arithmetic problems (EVAP). The prototype consists of an interactive storywhich includes various types of EVAP and incorporates a graphing calculator based on the«yupana» craft or «Incas abacus». The results of a qualitative validation carried outindividually with 18 children of second grade of primary education suggest that the way tolocate and present the numerical data of each EVAP is determinant to facilitate its correctresolution. The conclusions specify the qualities of an interdisciplinary narrative interface modeland argue that, in order to achieve the expected learning, it is necessary to promote asequential, metered, rewarding and visually attractive reading. In addition, it discusses thepossible impact of touch screens in audiovisual language and the design of school textbooks.