Idea: Road signs you can dream of
The imprinting of over thirty traffic signs turns out to be quite a challenge. Teacher Annet Kooijman's Bokabox offers structure and beautiful materials that students want to use for themselves.
Image: Angeliek de Jonge
Learning the road signs is boring and difficult, Annet Kooijman noticed when she started a few years ago at the Montessori school Pallas Athene in Amersfoort. “I tried to make something fun out of it with pictures from the internet, but it just remains stupid. That seems simple, but in practice children keep confusing the meaning of the signs. ”
That had to be done differently, she thought. She was originally an architect, but as an auxiliary parent at her children's school she noticed how nice the education is. She followed the PABO and Montessori training. “Already during the training I had the greatest fun developing lessons and materials. As an architect I am sensitive to what is beautiful and the material of Maria Montessori immediately appealed to me: it is all so simple, logical and feels good. ”
Free hand
She was given a free hand from school to develop materials for learning road signs in grades 3, 4 and 5. Making more than thirty road signs for so many classes is not an option, so she came up with a ruse. She discovered that children mainly look at the picture and do not even perceive the background, so she decided to separate the two parts. For example, only four plain road signs are needed: a white circle and triangle with a red border, a blue circle and a square with a white border. “You practice the meaning of these basic signs with the children until they can dream them,” Kooijman explains. By then adding an icon, the real meaning of the road sign is created. An icon of a bicycle on the triangular base board then becomes: 'Watch out! Cyclists'. Children can add the cards with the texts. The four priority signs form a separate category, with message cards and images of the symbols on the road. “The children immediately understand what the intention is,” she says. “I hardly need words to explain the system. Instead of memorizing a pile of signs, they really only need to know a few. 'Oh that's all,' they say. ”
Teacher Annet Kooijman: “I tried to make something fun out of it with pictures from the internet, but it's just stupid stuff.”
She then came up with the design herself. “Individual parts get lost, so everything had to fit in a box. And it shouldn't be too big, otherwise it will disappear into the warehouse. I puzzled until I had it. ” The result is impressive: a handy wooden box full of clear materials, of which the lids form the standards.
To practise
Not only the students and colleagues were enthusiastic, other schools also quickly wanted her Bokabox: an abbreviation for 'board cards box'. She came into contact with a factory in China and took the plunge. She had the first XNUMX pieces made there. “That was a bit overconfident,” Kooijman admits. “The language alone was a big problem. Eventually I went there with a script full of pictures to explain the production process. It did cost me a bit, but it was a great experience and I learned a lot from it. ”
In the meantime, about XNUMX lesson boxes have been purchased, which they will subsequently have made in the Netherlands. Teachers can teach with it in class, but children can also work independently. For example, they can practice the boards together, give each other assignments, make up their own boards or make a booklet of the boards they already know.
Research from the University of Utrecht from 2013 confirms that the Bokabox works, and is even more effective than other methods. “In many methods, children learn the signs through photos of traffic situations, but that is distracting,” says Kooijman. "You learn traffic signs by automating them, just like with the tables."
Hart
The Bokabox is included in the toolkit of the Traffic and Transport Knowledge Platform and many provinces provide subsidies. Kooijman still spends some time in the classroom and is mainly engaged in developing educational materials. She has also developed a quartet that can be used in addition to the Bokabox. "I enjoy teaching, but thinking up how you can better convey the core of the curriculum is really my heart."
More information? www.bokabox.nl
