Mathematics

Washington University
The Kumon Machine: Learning mathematics with silicon paper

Reproduced with permission from NeXT Computer, Inc.
A Reference Guide to NeXT in Higher Education, Fall 1992
ยช 1992 NeXT Computer, Inc


With a grant from the Kumon Institute of Education in Osaka, Japan, T. D. (Dan) Kimura, associate professor of computer science at Washington University, is using NeXTSTEP to develop a pen-based computer system (Silicon Paper, as he calls it) to teach mathematics to preschool through college-age students.

The applications Kimura and his staff of 10 research associates and graduate students are creating will be based on the Kumon Math Method, a rote-learning program developed in the late 1950s by high school teacher Toru Kumon to help his sons learn mathematics. Kumon prepared daily worksheets that the boys could complete alone in fewer than 30 minutes. They had to get the correct answers before they could proceed to a new worksheet. Today, there are more than 5,000 Kumon worksheets.

"The purpose of the Kumon method is to learn and practice computational skills," says Kimura, "and that's not something I feel students can do effectively with a traditional mouse and keyboard."

According to Kimura, there are currently 1.6 million Kumon students in Japan and 100,000 in the United States, where the method has been adopted in several school districts in Texas and the Southern states.

The associate professor and his staff are using NeXT computers to design and construct an operating system prototype, develop handwritten character recognition capabilities, and create an expert system and application software for Kumon instruction. Kimura says the team also hopes to make discoveries in user interfaces, visual programming languages, pattern recognition using neural networks, and multimedia communication.

"I like the NeXT machine because of its object kits and speech capabilities. The machine came with everything we needed for our research-and at an affordable price. For us, NeXT provides an extension of Macintosh-like capabilities, including a friendly graphical interface, which I found attractive. In addition, NeXT's multimedia capabilities are very important to the project," says Kimura, who expects to complete his research by mid-1995.

Working on the pen-based computer, students will retrieve an assigned worksheet, which then appears on the screen. After students write in their answers, the machine will automatically indicate whether the answers are correct. (An expert system designed by Kimura and his staff will advise students of their mistakes, assign grades, and determine which exercise they should complete next, based on their speed and accuracy in completing earlier worksheets). In addition, Kimura plans to design the system so a teacher or parent can review the child's work in progress from a machine that is linked to the child's and can transmit verbal messages of encouragement to the student.

In addition to mathematics, Kimura believes his technology can eventually be adopted for learning other subjects, including foreign languages, geography, and art.

For more information, please contact:

T. D. (Dan) Kimura
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Washington University
509 Bryan Hall, Campus Box 1045
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130
(314) 935-6122
tdk@wucs1.wustl.edu