Math Melodies is a math concepts iOS app designed specifically for students with visual impairments and blindness. The initial version of Math Melodies has twelve different type of math exercises that students explore with their fingers with receiving built-in audio feedback. Math Melodies is also compatible with VoiceOver and VoiceOver paired with a refreshable braille display. When students answer the math problems correctly, a piece of music is played as a reward. The level of difficulty increases with each chapter. Math Melodies teaches students with visual impairments and blindness math concepts but when taught correctly, Math melodies also teaches basic spatial awareness and provides opportunities to learn how to use touch screen technology.
Below are screenshots of a few math concepts that Math Melodies teaches:
Image has four dogs with bones and the text, “Counting. How many animals are there in total” witha red X button and a green check mark at the bottom of the screen.
Teach a braille student to drag his/her finger in a line from left to right across the page while counting the dogs. (Some counting activities may have two rows; when more than one row appears, teach the student to initially drag his/her finger down the left side of the screen to determine how many rows are there.) As the student touches the dog, he/she will hear the dog bark. When the student has counted, the student should drag his/her finger to the bottom right corner and activate the green checkmark at the bottom of the page. The next page will have answer options. The student will drag his/her finger down the page to hear the options. Select the desired answer. If correct, the student will hear a praise phrase and a short music clip. If incorrect, the student will hear “try again”. Students can go back and count again.
Image has the text, “Sequence. Complete the sequence. What would you get after the hen?” Picture of a cow, hen, cow, hen, question mark. In the bottom left corner there is a red x button and a green check mark button.
Teach the braille student to determine how many rows of animals on the screen by dragging his/her finger starting at the top of the screen down to the bottom. Then, starting on the first row, drag the student should drag his/her finger in a line from the left to the right side, determining the sequence of animals. As the student touches the animal, he/she will hear a cow mooing or a hen clucking.
Image has the text, “Add or delete. Add or delete to obtain four frogs.” The picture is a 2×4 grid. There is a frog in the top row, third column and a frog in the second row, first column. The bottom right corner has a red x button and a green check mark button.
By Diane Brauner