Continued from last week

This is what Thai numbers look like.

Yesterday, I did the similar test on a new group of children to collect some more ideas from different point of view. I followed the same research process but this time I asked the kids to come up with an idea that helps to make it easier for them to remember those Thai numerals that I showed them at the beginning. I also asked them to think about how they would relate those numbers to Asian culture. One of the boys pointed out that Thai numerals look a lot like written language from India which makes sense since Thai numerals follow the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. He related the culture to the appearance of each number by creating a simple drawing he thought representing such culture. For example; he made a simple drawing of an elephant starting with the loop in the number one character.

** This is the website that shows how to write Thai numerals. Note that all of the characters except "0" has loop which could be referred to as the character's head.



The results from the experiments that I did on the different groups of children vary depending on their perception and how much they relate themselves to the culture. Obviously, those who are more interested in Thai culture, link Thai numerals to Asian symbols such as elephant.

I'm interested in learning how each kid see each number and transform them into something that they're familiar with in order to help them memorize the characters easier.