2006.60.7

The Flan-O-Fraction Kit

Glenn & Scott

Green paper covered rectangular box with lid, screen printed in silver: "The Flan-O-Fraction Kit/Copyright 1957"; box holds series of 2.5" wide brown paper strips backed with a velvety white paper in a variety of lengths and marked with fractions in large 1" black letters; also eight sections of wooden yardstick with a cardboard braille label in both alphabetic and numeric description, marked from 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1; the largest section, representing the whole, has each 2" section marked in braille with brass pins; note the original instructions are stored in the artifact file.

H-0.75 W-20.25 D-4 inches

1957

APH Collection

Andrew F. Schott developed an elementary school mathematics curriculum known as individualized mathematics in the mid 1950s which was adopted by schools all over the country. In the early 1960s, Carson Nolan and the research department at APH began studying the possibility of adapting Schott's system in schools for the blind. An abacus developed by Schott, the Numberaid, and a number of other devices, the Calculaid, measureaid (a ruler and protractor), fractionaid, geometraid were eventually listed in the APH catalog along with braille and large type texts. This may be part of prototype materials used to develop the fractionaid. It was found in the model shop at APH. The braille rulers mimic the function of the paper strips in a more tactile format. The testing ended inconclusively in the late 1960s, although the numberaid continued to be sold at late as 1979.

APH Collection, 2006.60