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How Happy Numbers incorporates Universal Design for Learning principles
How Happy Numbers incorporates Universal Design for Learning principles

Happy Numbers incorporates Universal Design for Learning principles by addressing engagement, representation, and action and expression.

Nick avatar
Written by Nick
Updated over a week ago

Multiple Means of Engagement

Personalized Learning Pathways

Our assessment system allows us to create a personalized learning path for each student. At the beginning of the year, students are placed in the Happy Numbers Curriculum at a level that best suits them, determined by their placement test results. If a student demonstrates significant progress on the mid-year test (optional), their placement may be adjusted. Additionally, teachers can manage students' pathways as needed.

Just-in-Time Help

The amount of feedback and scaffolding depends on how much a student struggles with the task. A student doesn’t stay one-on-one with his or her misunderstanding. Happy Numbers will provide a comment, a hint, or additional animation to support the student. If this is not enough, we will simplify the problem by dividing it into several steps and move through the solution together.

The short video shows the example of how Happy Numbers helps to find neighboring hundreds for a number, first, showing a number line, and then giving detailed instructions on how to work on it.

Beads system

To ensure that a student moves on to the next concept only after he or she has mastered the previous one, Happy Numbers uses a clear and visual scoring system. As shown below, there are green beads (or fruits) at the top of the screen for every task. When a student enters a correct response, one green bead moves from left to right on the counter. If a student enters an incorrect response, one bead moves from the right back to the left. The goal is to move all the beads from the left to the right to advance to the next task. Therefore, a visual scoring system helps adapt the number of problems a student must solve correctly to show mastery.

User-friendly design

We design our tasks to be easy to understand. We test our design and select font size, colors, and mechanics that prove to be the most clear and comprehensive.

Engaging storytelling

To engage every student and inspire their imagination, we create characters and stories. Due to diverse scenarios, each student can find something they may connect with in the Happy Numbers content. Below are several examples of contexts in which students interact with mathematical concepts on Happy Numbers.

Math Challenge

This initiative engages entire grade levels in a friendly, 4-week interclass competition. By aligning with each student’s individual learning journey, it ensures personalized challenges that motivate and engage all students. The competition encourages regular participation, fostering both implementation success and significant math growth.

Multiple Means of Representation

Voiceover

For students who can’t read fluently yet, the text might prevent them from success even if the math concept is reachable. For such students, a natural human voiceover is available on all PK-5 tasks in Happy Numbers.

Spanish translations

There are Spanish translations and voiceovers for all the tasks including diagnostics.

Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract model

Each student’s individual learning pathway involves different types of exercises that use the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract model of education.

Grade 1. Addition within 10

Interactive support

Sometimes the feedback is provided by the problem itself, letting a student explore math concepts interacting with a model. Like in this Happy Numbers’ task where students have to manipulate the shapes to represent a given portion.

On Happy Numbers students can not only interact with a model, they can create their own schemes, graphs, and figures.There are some of examples:

Also on Happy Numbers students have the opportunity to model situations that are impossible to model in the classroom. To find a mass of the hippo you just need to drag it to the scales!

Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Happy Numbers provides multiple ways to study: interactive tasks, paper-pencil activities, fact-fluency games. Also it gives opportunities to amplify students’ voice and thinking, providing choice in student work.

The tasks provide not only a solution algorithm or the opportunity to enter an answer. It suggests active action (intermediate steps, choice of answers).They introduce different approaches for solving problems (for example, different ways of finding areas).

Also sometimes students can make a decision if they are ready to work independently or they still need to solve step by step with the additional support.

Happy Numbers printables library has different levels of printable materials. They allow students to show a full solution and suggest an increasing degree of independence - from the step-by-step solution algorithm to a completely independent solution. Printables have tasks that challenge students to come up with their own math problem, which allows them to develop creativity and independent thinking.

Also solving printables materials with “Cooperative” icon in groups involve showing leadership as well as finding student’s own strategy to win. Happy numbers supports students who may be more introverted and helps build their confidence interacting with the platform at their own pace.

Teachers can use Happy Numbers in group activities in different ways:

  • Display tasks on the whiteboard and offer the whole class to discuss and solve tasks together. You can use interactive materials from our curriculum or find some pictures suitable for whiteboard demonstration in our blog.

  • Assign the same tasks to a group of students and let them communicate while solving them.

  • Use printables: in Happy Numbers printable library you can find printables with the “Cooperative” icon. They are game-like and suitable for group activities. Students will need to play together, discuss strategies and find the best way to win!

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