by Phil Shapiro pshapiro@his.com

Back in 1970, when I was a third grade student at the American School of Paris, my teacher, Mrs. Lee, thought it would be a good idea to teach multiplication facts via rote memorization. Even though I was a young kid, I was getting wind of the fact that rote memorization is one of the worst ways of learning anything. So in a smart-aleck fashion similar to Lisa Simpson on television, I explained to Mrs. Lee that rote memorization was being increasingly discredited by cognitive psychologists and that "teaching the meaning of numbers" was the emerging paradigm." "Don't you realize mathematics is more about patterns than numbers," I explained in a friendly voice.

Mrs. Lee smiled and escorted me out into the hallway for detention. I spent a lot of time in the hallway in 3rd grade, but that's what happens when you think independently.

On that day I set myself a life goal of devising a better way of teaching multiplication facts -- a more meaningful way. Fast forward to 1990 in Washington DC. I'm sitting at the U.S. Dept. of Education library doing some educational research. As I'm doing searches in the ERIC database (Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse) I notice the numbers on the screen indicating what percent of the search has been completed. 12, 19, 26, 34, 41.

As the number fly by quickly on the screen, I notice that the computer is counting by 7's. "Hey, that would make a cool math game," I thought to myself. "Get students to figure out what different sections of the screen are counting by."

As it happens, I was volunteering time as a computer teacher with an afterschool program for elementary school kids. 2 days later I had written a prototype of the game in Applesoft BASIC (for Apple II computers) and the kids were playing and enjoying it. Each week I improved the game and the kids continued enjoying it.

I decided to release the game as shareware and I gave copies to all my friends for them to use with their kids. Fast forward to 1994. Apple II computers were discontinued and the Mac was rising. On a whim I posted a message on the Macintosh Education Forum on America Online that I was looking for someone to help me port a math game to the Mac. It was my good fortune that I ran into a talented programmer, Scott Fenton, who took up the challenge. About two weeks later the port was finished and we released the game, "Which Number is Increasing?" as shareware.

Over the years I received occasional fan mail letters and emails regarding this math game. And then in 1999 I received an email from a fellow in Australia who loved the game and wanted to use it at 100 elementary schools. He asked me what the license fee would be. I was so happily surprised I told him, "Send me US $100 and you can use the software on all Macs at those 100 schools."

A few months later I started a job as an Instructional Technology Coordinator in the Arlington Public Schools, in Arlington, Virginia. I was responsible for teaching teachers how to use Macs at 2 elementary schools and also maintain the 200 Macs at these schools.

Just for fun I installed this math game on the computers in the computer lab and tried it out with a class of 2nd graders. They loved it.

I wanted to let other elementary schools in the school district know they could use this software for free. So I sent a short email to the person in charge of the biweekly newsletter for the school district, explaining how this math software I designed was popular in Australia and that any school in Arlington could use the software for free.

Wouldn't you know, a journalist at the local county newspaper spotted that brief news item in the internal school district newsletter and contacted me to write a feature article in the county newspaper.

The reporter called me on a Friday afternoon. I was pretty busy at the school and suggested that we chat on the phone on Monday. "Actually, we pretty much need to talk now about your software today. You see, the front page of the county newspaper has a huge white space on it now, and it's 2 pm. By 6 pm I need to fill that white space. Tell me about your software, won't you."

What could I do? The article appeared right there on the front page of the county newspaper. (You can see a jpeg scan of the article on the web site for the math game. http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/whichnumber/)

So I became a little bit famous, but more importantly, more kids got to enjoy and play the math game.

Fast forward to June, 2004. I'm helping a friend set up her new dual-processor G5 Power Mac. When I look for the Mac OS 9 System Folder on her computer, I don't see it. "What? Classic is no longer installed?" I gulped. "Kids will no longer be able to play my math game."

It turns out that you can install Mac OS 9 on newly shipping Macs, but it requires extra effort and skill to do so. The math game I designed is effectively dead. As I was reading the game last rites, telling it its numbers were numbered, a hopeful thought sprang to mind.

"How about if this game were ported to Java? Then it could live eternally and could be enjoyed by kids from Australia to Iceland -- in perpetuity -- or even longer."

"What would it take to get the game ported to Java?" First I'd have to write an article telling the story about this math game. That's not too hard. Then I'd have to post it on the web. That's not too hard.

Getting it noticed by a potential Java programmer, now that's hard. Except for the fact that a very neat guy named Bill Palmer has set up a web site named Mac Using Educators where people can submit articles.

There's hope yet for this math game. Do you know a Java programmer who might want to tackle this? The programming for this game is pretty simple. A good programmer could complete the programming in one weekend.

I hereby release all rights to the game and open source it for anyone to port to Java (or any other programming language.) I'd like to thank Scott Fenton for giving this math game such vibrant life all these years. And I hold no ill will against Apple for not including Mac OS 9 on new computers. If I ran a computer company, I would do the same.

Mrs. Lee, I forgive you, too. I have fond memories of all those times you didn't send me out to sit in the hallway. And while I sitting out in the hallway I had some great conversations with principal Steketee about new learning paradigms and the educational implications of cutting edge developments in cognitive psychology. I was always a bit disappointed when Mr. Steketee sent me back into the classroom. I would have learned more if the detentions were just slightly longer.

Phil Shapiro  pshapiro@his.com

http://www.his.com/pshapiro/ (personal)
http://teachme.blogspot.com (weblog)
http://guitarlessons.blogspot.com/ (guitar lessons)
http://mytvstation.blogspot.com/ (video and rich media)

"We can, and we’ve got to, do better than this." - Dr. Seuss

MACinations November 04