Number sense educational game design for dyscalculia and low numeracy children

Dyscalculia is a specific educational difficulty which affects an individual’s acquisition of basic concepts of numbers and prevents them to understand and apply number facts. Dyscalculia can effect on different aspects of learning and performance mathematical skills, but number sense is the most affected issue by Dyscalculia. Studies indicate that approximately 5–8% of school-aged children experience difficulties to understand number sense. Mobile devices with installed educational games help these individuals feel more comfortable and relaxed doing and understanding mathematical skills. The main objective of this study to propose an effective educational game design guideline for learning number sense for Dyscalculia and low numeracy children. The methodology of this study has five stages which are: awareness of problem, suggestion, development, evaluation and conclusion. Every stage involves activities and output. This study also describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of the 123GO app a mobile educational app that is designed and developed based on the guideline. The principle design of 123GO app based on used the interaction design (IxD) that allowed to identify and apply for an educational game app that can be used by children that have difficulties with low numeracy and thus number sense problem. The evaluation of the app suggests that it is useful and easy-to-use. In conclusion, based on the evaluation results, it is found that the 123GO app is effective in helping Dyscalculia children with number sense difficulties