Last day at the project // dominoes

I've spent the best part of a year working at The Grassmarket Community Project as an adult numeracy tutor. Most of the time in the wood workshop, and this is the wee piece that I finished on the last day of work there: a set of oak dominoes.

I had previously made some wooden dice and realised that these stimulated discussion, so thought a set of dominoes could be used in my numeracy practice. They've turned out well. Not only does the set look good (and it sounds like a set of dominoes when it's rattled) but we've used it to build some numeracy discussions in the workshop. From discussions around determining how many tiles needed to make a full set (or one with up to 2, 3, 4, 5 pips); through measuring out the tiles and making them; by asking a new volunteer to do the pyrography of the pips; through working out the dimensions of the box; and to building, gluing and finishing the box I've provoked a lot of discussions about mathematics and numeracy. My favourite part was finishing the box on the Thursday morning in the wood workshop, taking it downstairs to the main hall and having a couple of other volunteers immediately sit down and start playing. They taught me 3 new ways to play dominoes in the house style. It's all good numeracies work...

Maybe it's time for the formal bit. Here's the definition of adult literacy and numeracy in Scotland from 2001: The ability to read, write and use numeracy, to handle information, to express ideas and opinions, to make decisions and solve problems, as family members, workers, citizens and lifelong learners. Did making these dominoes help people with their numeracy? I think so.

They dominoes are ordered like that because of the game Last one in the box. It's a nice way of ... err ... getting the dominoes back in the box in a nice order.