Taiwan's first animation on mathematics education 'Yan Xiaomei vs. the Mathematics Demon'

Taiwan's first mathematics educational animation "Yan Xiaomei vs. the Mathematics Demon" is a joint effort between the National Taiwan Normal University Mathematics Education Center and Xanthus Animation Studio, a Golden Bell award-winning animation production team. It took the collaborative effort of two and a half years to complete. It is a series of original animations on popular mathematical science developed in Taiwan. Each of the 8 episodes in the series runs for 11 minutes. The series is financially supported by the promotion of industry-academic cooperation for the production and broadcasting of popular sciences project for the 2019-2020 year that was underwritten by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Aided by the exquisite rendering calculation technology of the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) of the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs)", "Yan Xiaomei vs. the Mathematics Demon", a 3D animation of the popular mathematical science, will premiere on the Momo parent-children channel on October 9, 2021, 17:00-17:30, to be followed in three more Saturdays at the same time. Elementary and middle school students and their parents are welcome to watch.

A 3D animation film, "Yan Xiaomei vs. the Mathematics Demon" is produced based on the "Mathematics Foundation Activity Module", part of a series of mathematics-learning activities centered on laying the foundation and activities under the Ministry of Education's "JUST DO MATH-- must learn mathematics well" project led by the honorary professor Lin Fou-Lai of the Department of Mathematics of National Taiwan Normal University who is the head adviser for this project. The idea is to use lively and interesting mathematics activities to arouse students' interest and motivation in learning and to establish core concepts. At the same time, students gain concrete experience in mathematical contents via games and then are stimulated to explore and reflect on related mathematical concepts.

From the series of "Mathematics Foundation Activity Module" he had developed, Honorary Professor Lin Fou-Lai of the Department of Mathematics of National Taiwan Normal University selected 7 activity modules as the theme content of "Yan Xiaomei vs. the Mathematics Demon" that encompassed the core concepts in mathematics for primary and middle school students, namely line symmetry, uncertainty and probability, fractional simplification operations, spatial view and reasoning, mathematical thinking of solving problems such as chickens and rabbits in the same cage, the intersection of common factors and common multiples, the representation of the relationship between common factors and common multiples, and the representation of the relationship between the common factors and the Venn diagram. The film combines the well-known anime characters Yan Xiaomei and others and demonstrates the importance of mathematics in daily life by describing the problems caused by a world without mathematics. The project team also creates new characters such as Xiaofeng to bring up challenging problems. Through cooperation, Yan Xiaomei's team members work together to solve the problems, bringing out the important spirit of mathematics learning. At the same time, referring to the ideas and strategies employed by primary or secondary school students in their actual activities for mathematics foundation, narrations and characters in the film fully reflect the thought process in problem-solving of the characters in the play. In addition, through fun but challenging activity the film leads the audience to see how in the play A-Chan, who once feared and rejected mathematics, step by step lifted his fear of mathematics and developed a growth-oriented mind. This film is to inspire learners to love and awaken mathematical thinking and develop mathematical literacy.
 

"Yan Xiaomei vs. the Mathematics Demon" screenwriter Lai I-Wei (winner of the 2021 Singapore Asian Content Awards "Best Asian Comedy Program" and a nominee of the 2021 Golden Bell Best Miniseries Award for his "Adventure of the Ring" original work, which was produced by HBO Asia, Green Film Production) integrated mathematics knowledge into the animation, providing elementary and middle school teachers and students with a more interesting way to get close to mathematics. The screenwriter, also the co-founder of the "Numerical Sense Lab", emphasized the close connection between mathematics and real life. The foundation-laying activities of operational mathematics were incorporated into the story, allowing the audience to see the mathematics through the interpretation in the animation.