Developing effective K-5 mathematics educational software

Abstract

This paper presents a software engineering pilot study on the construction and use of educational software for the K-5 classroom environment. The goal of this study is to use the software engineering life cycle to guide the development of mathematics skills practice software with the intent to produce (1) a reusable template for producing meaningful and effective educational software as well as (2) a retrospective analysis tool to help guide future software development for better technology incorporation in the classroom. As part of the development process, the principal customer stakeholders, specifically administrators and teachers, are interviewed to assist in the gathering of requirements for the software as well as guide the choice of software architecture. For the purposes of presenting a complete evaluation of whether the resultant software is successful, a preliminary set of elementary classrooms is chosen as the beta testing group, spanning dramatically different demographics within a local school district. Student interaction with the software for each group is tracked and observed to assess the value of adding the software to the classroom and determining the effectiveness of the time devoted to the technology. This paper will present and discuss the complete decision process of creating the software as well as a thorough analysis of the success or failure in meeting the gathered requirements and evaluating the student testing. The information gathered in this study is used to create a reusable template for educational software engineering and evaluation that can be applied to software specific to the elementary classroom environment.