ARI-LAB 2

ARI-LAB 2 is an open multi-environment system for developing skills in solution to arithmetical problems for children of the primary and the lower secondary school.
ARI-LAB 2 addresses two kinds of users: the teacher and the pupil. By interacting with ARI-LAB 2, the pupil can build his own solution to some arithmetical problems, by interacting with a structured and interconnected set of environments of different kind.
These environment include:

  • microworlds for representing problems
  • an environment for building and describing problem solutions
  • a communication environment through which a student can interact with his own mates and/or with his/her teacher by sending messages and solutions
  • a database of solved problems.

Apart from the previous environments, the teacher has also at his/her disposal an environment for planning and customizing the educational activity with his/her students: writing problem texts, constructing problem solutions, examining and commenting the students’ work, configuring the system for every student of his/her class.
In ARI-LAB 2 it is integrated a vocal synthesizer for developing and validating the basic mathematical skills (such as the counting, the coordination between the oral and written representation and that in digits of a number, the numerical equivalence, etc). There are also some movies in Italian for deaf-and-dumb to adapt the system to the specific demands of the deaf children. The interface of ARI-LAB 2 is currently available in three languages of the European Community: Italian, English, and Spanish.