Education Minister launches Izak9 in Dublin

Tá acmhainn nua don oideachas trí Ghaeilge, a fheabhsaíonn rannpháirtíocht leanaí sa mhatamaitic, lainseáilte go hoifigiúil ag an Aire Oideachais agus Scileanna Joe McHugh T.D.

Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh TD launches Izak9 as Gaeilge in Scoil Neasain, Dublin.

Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh T.D. launches ‘Izak9 as Gaeilge’ maths resource in Dublin

Izak9 – a set of 27 colourful cubes for use from third class to second year – is combined with extensive online support material to stimulate mathematical thinking, creativity and interaction while increasing confidence with numbers and calculations. It was designed primarily to assist pupil transition between the primary and secondary phases and is proving popular with pupils, teachers and education professionals.

Tá Izak9 – 27 gciúb ildaite atá le húsáid ó rang a trí go dtí an dara bliain – ceangailte leis an iomad ábhair tacaíocht ar líne le smaointeoireacht, cruthaitheacht agus idirghníomhaíocht a bhaineann leis an matamaitic a spreagadh agus, ag an am céanna, muinín a mhéadú maidir le huimhreacha agus ríomh. Dearadh é go príomha le cuidiú le haistriú daltaí idir an bhunscoil agus an iar-bhunscoil agus tá ráchairt air i measc daltaí, múinteoirí agus gairmithe oideachais.

Izak9 is being used in almost 1,000 schools on the island of Ireland.

Supported by Foras na Gaeilge, the all-new Izak9 support content allows children to have fun learning maths through Irish.

‘Izak9 as Gaeilge’ was officially launched today by Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh at Scoil Neasáin, a gaelscoil in Harmonstown, north Dublin.

Tá Izak9 á úsáid i mbeagnach 1,000 scoil ar oileán na hÉireann.

Le tacaíocht ó Fhoras na Gaeilge ligeann ábhar tacaíochta úrnua Izak9 do leanaí spraoi a bheith acu agus iad ag foghlaim mata trí Ghaeilge.

Lainseáil an tAire Oideachais agus Scileanna Joe McHugh go hoifigiúil inniu Izak9 as Gaeilge i Scoil Neasáin, Gaelscoil i mBaile Hearmann, tuaisceart Bhaile Átha Cliath.

Minister McHugh, said: “I am very pleased to officially launch Izak9 as Gaeilge today. I’d like to congratulate Franz Schlindwein, his team at Qubizm and Foras na Gaeilge, for delivering a valuable maths teaching and learning resource that facilitates active learning through Irish.

“My own journey with the Irish language is well documented and I’m keen to see more and more resources, and innovative ideas like these that promote the language, make it more relevant and combine our language with other aspects of the curriculum.”

“I am also delighted to hear of the work that the Izak9 team has done on shared education, especially in the border areas, with a number of schools in Donegal benefitting from workshops.”

Arsa an tAire McHugh: “Tá mé iontach sásta Izak9 as Gaeilge a lainseáil go hoifigiúil inniu. Ba mhaith liom tréaslú le Franz Schlindwein, lena fhoireann ag Qubizm, agus Foras na Gaeilge, as acmhainn teagaisc agus foghlama mhata a chur ar fáil a éascaíonn foghlaim ghníomhach trí Ghaeilge.

“Tá mo thuras féin leis an Ghaeilge ar an taifead agus tá mé ag iarraidh níos mó agus níos mó acmhainní a fheiceáil, agus déanann smaointe nuálacha mar seo, a chuireann an teanga chun cinn, í níos ábhartha agus ceanglaíonn sé ár dteanga le gnéithe eile den churaclam.”

“Tá lúcháir orm chomh maith a chluinstin go bhfuil an obair atá déanta ag foireann Izak9 ar an oideachas chomhroinnte, go háirithe i gceantair cois teorann, le cuid scoileanna i nDún na nGall ag baint tairbhe as ceardlanna.”

Arsa Edel Ní Chorráin, Leas-Phríomhfheidhmeannach / Stiúrthóir Seirbhísí Oideachais Fhoras na Gaeilge:

“Tá lúcháir orainn maoiniú a chur ar fáil le hábhar Gaeilge Izak9 a fhorbairt. Is cinnte go gcuirfidh an acmhainn le teagasc an mhata trí Ghaeilge i mbunscoileanna agus in iar-bhunscoileanna ar fud an oileáin agus ligfidh sé do gach scoil a ndaltaí a dhéanamh páirteach san fhoghlaim ghníomhach.

“Tacaíonn acmhainní cosúil le Izak9 go hiomlán le straitéisí uimhearthachta agus litearthachta ó thuaidh agus ó dheas. Tá lúcháir mhór orainn go bhfuil an acmhainn mhatamaitice nuálach seo ar fáil anois do gach scoil in earnáil na Gaelscolaíochta.”

Edel Ní Chorráin, Deputy Director of Foras na Gaeilge, said:

“We were delighted to provide funding for the development of the Irish medium content of Izak9. The resource will certainly compliment the teaching of mathematics through Irish in primary and post-primary schools throughout the island and will allow all schools to engage their students in active learning.

“Resources such as Izak9 fully support numeracy and literacy strategies north and south. We are extremely pleased that this innovative mathematics resource is now available to all schools in the IM sector.”

Franz Schlindwein, creator of Izak9, said: “This is an important day for our team as it marks the realisation of our goal to make the Izak9 shared learning environment available to all pupils in Ireland. Izak9 as Gaeilge is much more than an Irish language version of Izak9 – it is a completely new resource with its own bank of online support material.

“We are very grateful to Foras na Gaeilge for their generous support in making this extensive Irish language support material available for all Izak9 users. We are honoured that Minister McHugh, could join us in this celebration which has been kindly hosted today by Scoil Neasáin National School.

Arsa Franz Schlindwein, cruthaitheoir Izak9: “Lá tábhachtach is ea é seo dár bhfoireann mar tá ár sprioc bainte amach, is é sin timpeallacht foghlama comhroinnte Izak9 a chur ar fáil do gach dalta in Éirinn. Is mó i bhfad ná leagan Gaeilge de Izak9 is ea Izak9 as Gaeilge – is acmhainn úrnua é lena thaisce féin d’ábhar tacaíochta.

“Táimid buíoch d’Fhoras na Gaeilge as a dtacaíocht fhial leis an ábhar fairsing tacaíochta Gaeilge a chur ar fáil do gach úsáideoir Izak9. Is mór an onóir dúinn gur féidir leis an Aire McHugh a bheith inár gcuideachta sa cheiliúradh seo, atá á óstáil go caoin ag Scoil Neasáin.

Arsa Deirble Nic Conghamhna, príomhoide i Scoil Neasáin, a chuir forrán ar Qubizm in 2016 maidir le Izak9 a chur ar fáil i nGaeilge:

“Táimid an-tógtha leis an gcoincheap agus leis an bhféidearthacht a bhí ag Izak9 d’fhorbairt theanga na matamaitice, scileanna a bhaineann le réiteach faidhbe agus deiseanna don obair ghrúpa. Bhí na hacmhainní ar líne ar fheabhas, ach ba i mBéarla amháin a bhí siad ar fáil ag an am, rud a d’fhág ár leanaí faoi mhíbhuntáiste.

“Is féidir le leanaí inár scoileanna tairbhe a bhaint as an acmhainn, eispéireas a fháil inti agus idirghníomhú léi, i dteanga theagaisc na scoile, rud a fheabhsaíonn eispéireas iomlán an fhoghlaimeora agus a éascaíonn na deiseanna teagaisc sa seomra ranga.”

Deirble Nic Conghamhna, Principal at Scoil Neasáin NS, who approached Qubizm in 2016 regarding the provision of Izak9 in Irish, said:

“We were very taken with the concept and the potential Izak9 offered to develop the language of mathematics, the skills of problem-solving and the opportunities for group-work. The online resources were excellent, but they were only available in English at that time, which placed our children at a disadvantage.

“Children in our schools can now enjoy, experience and interact with the resource in the language of instruction of the school, enhancing the entire learner experience and facilitating the teaching opportunities in the classroom.”

Event pics