As part of their ongoing activities related to the "La Main à la pâte" program, Henri Fresko, a teacher at the Lille campus responsible for social outreach, and Olivier Roussette, a research engineer, are making number slides for elementary schools.
The number slide is a tool that allows teachers to help children multiply or divide, as well as convert lengths or masses (multiples and submultiples of the meter or gram). It has the advantage of physically showing the numbers moving to the left column, where their value will be greater, or to the right column, where their value will be smaller. Following an issue raised by Edith Doublet, educational advisor for the Lille 2 – Annœullin district, Henri Fresko launched the production of number sliders to be offered to schools. Two models were created at the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Lille: one for Cycle 2 students (from first to third grade) and the other for Cycle 3 students (from fourth to sixth grade). The second model includes decimals (up to ten thousandths) and allows students to count up to hundreds of thousands.
Together with Olivier Roussette, they will initially supply 500 number sliders to 21 schools in the district, followed by a further 240 at a later stage. "Each class will receive 10 number sliders manufactured by Arts et Métiers explains Henri Fresko.
