Designing an Interactive Storybook on Abacus for Children's Arithmetic Learning

Abstract

Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics study that includes the operation of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Arithmetic itself has been a compulsory subject since the beginning of elementary school. However, some students still consider this difficult due to their challenges in calculation. Therefore, this may potentially affect students' learning outcomes and future academic performance overall. The abacus is one of the tools that can help with fast and accurate calculations. The brain's function can work optimally when using the abacus. However, abacus learning is still mainly focused on tutoring centers, and there is also a misconception of abacus usage other than calculating tools. Survey results show that many students still do not acknowledge how to use the abacus. For that reason, there is a need for an informational medium on how to use the abacus to expand children's learning access. This is because students still need learning media as a bridge to help them understand the material. The Design Thinking methodology by Tim Brown was used to design this informational media that aligns with the target audience's needs. The results of beta testing showed that informational media in the form of an interactive storybook is considered quite effective in introducing the use of an abacus to children.