[Transferred from Web repo] Update to strings on Oppia.org (Learner Pages)

[danapj]

**Describe the Issue **
This issue is being filed on behalf of the UX writing team to update some of the strings on select pages of the site (learner facing pages).

1 / Dropdown on the navbar

• Change "Basic Mathematics" to "Math"
• Change the description to "Foundational lessons to help you get started in math"

- Change "Ways to learn more" to "Community Library"

2/ Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math

• Update the paragraph under Course Details to "Oppia's curated math foundations course teaches the building blocks of math, including essential topics like additional, multiplication, and fractions. When you have mastered these, you can move on to other topics."
• Update the paragraph under Topics Covered to "Each lesson builds on the previous one, so you can start with our first topic, place values, for a structured course, or explore any other topic."

- Text above the search bar -- Change it to "Explore more lessons in our Community Library." - Can we remove the green search icon on the right? There's no need to have two.

3 / Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/addition-subtraction/story

• Update the paragraph under Addition and Subtraction to "If you had 4 eggs and your friend gave you 37 more, how many would you have in total? How about if you then lost 8? In this topic, you will learn how to solve problems like this with basic skills of addition and subjection."

4 / Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/multiplication/story

• Update the paragraph under Multiplication to "If you bought 60 boxes of 5 cakes, how many cakes would you have in total? In this topic, you wil learn how to use multiplication to solve problems like this."

5 / Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/division/story

• Update the paragraph under Division to "If you have 32 tomatoes to share amongst 4 people, how many tomatoes will each person get? In this topic, you will learn to use division to split a number into parts.

6 / Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/exprs-and-eqns/story

• Update the paragraph under Expressions and Equations to "Sometimes, you will need to solve problems with unknown numbers. For example, if you have bought an item on sale and want to find out its original price. In this topic, you will learn how to do this."

7 / Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/fractions/story

• Update the paragraph under Fractions to "You will often need to talk about parts of a whole. For example, a recipe might ask for half a cup of flour, or you might want to know how much milk you have left after spilling half the bottle. In this topic, you will learn how to understand such situations.

8 / Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/ratios/story

• Update the paragraph under Rations and Proportional Reasonins to "Ratios are useful for calculating how much ingredients to use if you have a recipe for 4 people, but intend to cook for 2. In this topic, you will learn how to use ratios to compare the size of one object with another."

9 / Page: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/percentages/story

• Update the paragraph under Percentages to "You will often use percentages in daily life when counting money and calculating how much you have spent. In this topic, you will learn to convert between percentages, fractions, and decimals, and how to calculate prices when there are discounts or taxes."

Thanks! Let me know if there are any clarifications.

[github-actions]

Hi @SanjaySajuJacob, thanks for proposing this as a good first issue. I am removing the label for now and looping in @DubeySandeep to approve the label. It will be added back if approved. Thanks!

[Himanshu4776]

Hi Team, I would like to fix this issue. Please assign this issue to me.

[suyash-tyagi]

Hey, I would like to work on this. Kindly assign me to this issue.

[hemantmm]

@seanlip is the fixes for curated lessons fine?

[seanlip]

For technical contributors: this needs some clarification from the UX Writing team first. Please don't start working on it yet.

@danapj thanks for filing the issue! Some questions of clarification:

1. Can we use Mathematics? In some countries it's "Math" and in others it's "Maths", but I think "Mathematics" is universal.
2. If we change "Ways to learn more" to "Community library", then wouldn't this overlap the CTA at the bottom of that column?
3. For "Each lesson builds on the previous one, so you can start with our first topic, place values, for a structured course, or explore any other topic." -- this feels like a run-on sentence. Should we make the last clause a separate thing?
4. For the search icon, we do need a button for users to click on. If we remove the green button on the right then what is the CTA? (Should we remove the one on the left instead?)
5. In "Addition and Subtraction" and "Multiplication", why is "In this topic" highlighted? Not sure I see changes suggested there.
6. For "Expressions and Equations", the second sentence of the proposed edit is a sentence fragment.
7. For Fractions and Percentages, the suggested edit is too long -- there is a 240-character limit for these blurbs.
8. For Ratios, is there a reason to use "intend" instead of "want"? The former seems like a more difficult word and we have seen issues with learners not understanding e.g. "reveal" instead of "show". Additionally, not sure about "one object with another" since ratios are often used for e.g. milk vs water, or number of cars vs number of bicycles, which aren't really "sizes of objects".

Please let me know if you need clarification on any of the above questions. Thanks!

[seanlip]

@hemantmm Yup I moved it to a different project since this is mostly content fixes and not technical.

[hemantmm]

@seanlip ok thank you for the information

[tamiorendain]

Hi @seanlip, is this on the UXW board for us to review the strings, including your comment from 2.10.2023?

[seanlip]

Hm, I think this issue got orphaned and I added it here because I was trying to clean up all the orphaned issues and assign them to projects.

I believe that this issue was originally part of a website audit. I'd say it's up to you whether you want the dev team to proceed with these changes (in which case they might benefit from some clarification), or close this in favour of a subsequent full audit.

[tamiorendain]

@seanlip I think it's worth tackling this early! It could be good prep for the audit. I'll assign a writer to look into this!

[davishedrick]

Hi @seanlip @tamiorendain, here's the first draft for the updated strings. If I remember correctly, Tami, you mentioned there being some crossover with other tickets/UX writers. Let me know if these requests need to be done alongside other projects.

1. Navbar Dropdown

Heading:
Current: Math
Revision: Basic mathematics

Body:
Current: Foundational lessons to get started in Math
Revision: Build a strong foundation in math, from addition to percentages.

2. Community Library Callout

Heading:
Current: WAYS TO LEARN MORE
Revision: MORE LESSONS

Body:
Current: Additional resources made by the community to help you learn more.
Revision: Learn with lessons made by our community.

CTA
Current: Community Library
Revision: N/A

3. Math Course

Heading:
Current: Course Details
Revision: Course Overview

Body:
Current: Oppia’s curated math foundations course teaches the basic building blocks of math, covering essential concepts like addition, multiplication and fractions. Once you have mastered these basic concepts, you can move onto more advanced lessons! Each topic builds on the previous one, so you can start from the beginning and complete the lessons from any skill level, or just dive right in if you need help on a particular topic.

Revision: This course teaches the basic building blocks of math. Each topic builds on the last, starting with simple topics, then progressing to more advanced lessons. Start at the beginning or dive into a specific topic!

Heading:
Current: Topics Covered
Revision: [Remove]

Body:
Current: Start from the basics with our first topic, Place Values. Or, pick a different topic below that you want to learn more about!
Revision: [Remove]

4. Community Library Search

Heading:
Current: Explore More Lessons Made by the Community
Revision: Explore more lessons

Body:
Current: Search through our Community Library
Revision: Find lessons in our Community Library

Search icon:
Current: Left search icon
Revision: [Remove]

Help text:
Current: What are you curious about?
Revision: What do you want to learn?

5. Addition and Subtraction [RESOLVED]

6. Multiplication [RESOLVED]

7. Division:

Body:
Current: If you had thirty-two tomatoes to share among four people, how many tomatoes should each person get? In this topic, you'll learn to use division to work out how to split something into parts.
Revision: If you had 32 tomatoes to share among four people, how many tomatoes should each person get? In this topic, you'll learn to use division to work out how to split something into parts.

8. Expressions and Equations:

Body:
Current: You'll often need to solve problems with unknown numbers — for example, if you've bought an item that is on sale and want to find out the original price. In this topic, you'll learn how to find unknown numbers using equations, expressions, and formulae.
Revision: You'll often need to solve problems with unknown numbers. For example, if you've bought an item that’s on sale and want to find out the original price. In this topic, you'll learn how to find unknown numbers using equations, expressions, and formulas.

9. Fractions:

Body:
Current: You'll often need to talk about parts of an object: a recipe might ask for half a cup of flour, or you might spill part of a bottle of milk. In this topic, you'll learn how to use fractions to understand and describe situations like these.
Revision: You’ll often need to talk about parts of a whole. For example, a recipe might ask for half a cup of flour or you might drink quarter of a bottle of milk. In this topic, you'll learn how to use fractions to understand and describe situations like these.

10. Ratios and Proportional Reasoning

Body:
Current: Ratios are useful for calculating how much ingredients to use if you have a recipe for four people but want to cook for two. In this topic, you'll learn how to use ratios to easily compare the size of one thing to another.
Revision: Ratios are used to compare the sizes of things. For example, you might use ratios to cook a recipe normally for 4 people, for 2 people instead. In this topic, you’ll learn how to compare, combine, and apply ratios to real situations.

11. Percentages

Body:
Current: You'll often need to use percentages in daily life when managing money and calculating expenses. In this topic, you'll learn how to convert between percentages, fractions and decimals, and how to calculate prices using discounts and taxes.
Revision: Percentages are useful to understand parts of a whole, similar to fractions. For example, you might use percentages when managing money or calculating expenses. In this topic, you'll learn how to convert percentages into fractions and decimals, and how to apply them to real-life situations.

Tables, justification, and screenshots can be found here for further context:
https://salt-rutabaga-454.notion.site/157-Update-strings-on-Oppia-org-1601fe247c1e80f68f4be4990788a664?pvs=4

[seanlip]

Thanks @davishedrick! I took a look and I think the changes are along the right lines, particularly the platform-level ones.

For the topic content, note that there is a 240-character limit on descriptions (so e.g. the Percentages one is now too long). I made some of the updates:

• I applied the changes for Division.
• I didn't apply the one for E+E since the 2nd sentence of the revision is a sentence fragment (not grammatical).
• I didn't make the one for Fractions ... I think "parts of a whole" might be too abstract if the student hasn't delved into the topic yet, so the original intent was to keep it physical; the lesson can introduce the generalization. The idea here is that the description is read by the student before they know any of the concepts introduced in the lessons. Also good callout on replacing "spill"! One note though: I think "quarter" should be "a quarter".
• I partially applied the one for Ratios -- I think the second sentence of the currently-proposed revision doesn't read quite right, the comma thing makes the sentence a bit clumsy. I agree it's quite hard to word though.
• I couldn't apply the one for Percentages since it doesn't fit the length limit.

Re next steps, I think what I'd suggest is making updates as needed and going through the revisions with @tamiorendain. Once everything looks good to both of you, I can start looking into how to get these applied to the site (some may be direct fixes and some may involve filing issues on the tech team's GitHub).

Thanks a lot for taking a look into this, appreciate it!

[tamiorendain]

Hi @davishedrick and @seanlip, just took a look and will leave suggestions here! Let me know what you think.

@davishedrick great job on these! Most of my suggestions are for simplicity or to integrate the character limits. Let me know what you think of the thoughts and suggestions below.

Questions for @seanlip - can we clarify terminology on this page? So far, I'm seeing:

• Course = the whole section (for example, all "math" content is under a "Basic Mathematics" course)
• Topic = individual subject within a course (for example, "Place Values")
• Lesson = a section within a topic - however, these also seem to be called "chapters"? And am I correct in that the "community library" is more of a "topic library", since each card on that page seems to lead to a topic (as opposed to a course, lesson, or chapter?)

THOUGHTS AND SUGGESTIONS:

1. Navbar dropdown: All Approved
   Heading: Basic Mathematics
   Revision: Build a strong foundation in math, from addition to percentages.

2. Community Library Callout
   Heading: MORE LESSONS
   Body: Learn with lessons made by our community.
   CTA:

• Suggestion: I suggest updating this to "Topic Library" rather than "Community Library". I think we want to make it as clear as possible that this is where users find topics. We could also possibly update to "Course library," though to me it looks like we're leading users to explore topics on this page.

3. Math course
   Heading: Course Overview
   Body:

• Suggested update: This course teaches the basic building blocks of math. Each topic builds on the last, starting with simple topics, then progressing to more advanced lessons. Start at the beginning by clicking the Place Values lessons or dive into a specific topic!
  Topics covered heading and body: Remove

4. Community library search
   Heading: Explore more lessons
   Body:
   - Suggested update: I suggest removing the body entirely, since it's basically a repeat of the heading
   Search icon: Remove left icon
   Help text: What do you want to learn?

5. Addition and Subtraction:

• Suggested update: change all digits 1-10 with written-out numbers:
  If you had four eggs and your friend gave you 37 more, how many would you have in total? How about if you then lost eight? In this topic, you will learn how to solve problems like this with basic skills of addition and subjection.

7. Multiplication:

• Suggested update: change all digits 1-10 with written-out numbers + fix misspellings:
  If you bought 60 boxes of five cakes, how many cakes would you have in total? In this topic, you will learn how to use multiplication to solve problems like this.

8. Division: All approved
   If you had 32 tomatoes to share among four people, how many tomatoes should each person get? In this topic, you'll learn to use division to work out how to split something into parts.

9. Expressions and Equations:

• Slight revision: Sometimes you'll need to figure out how a number changes, like if you've bought an item on sale and want to find out its original price*. In this topic, you'll learn how to find unknown numbers using equations, expressions, and formulas.

9. Fractions

• Slight revision: Fractions explain how a measurement can be broken into parts. For example, a recipe might ask for half a cup of flour or a quarter of a bottle of milk. In this topic, you'll learn how to use fractions to understand these situations.

10. Ratios and Proportional Reasoning

• Slight revision: Ratios are used to compare the sizes of things. For example, you might use ratios to turn a recipe for four people into a recipe for two people.* In this topic, you’ll learn how to compare, combine, and apply ratios to real situations.

11. Percentages

• Slight revision: Percentages show a portion of a whole, and you might use them when managing money or calculating expenses. In this topic, you'll learn how to convert percentages into fractions and decimals, and how to apply them to real-life situations.

[davishedrick]

@tamiorendain These additions are great, thanks! Good catch on the sentence fragment @seanlip.

My only question is what the "*" is used to denote here and if it's intended to be user-facing.

[tamiorendain]

@davishedrick As I mentioned in the meeting, the asterisks mean nothing - they are a formatting error LOL. I've removed them!

I think this is ready to go @seanlip! Unless anything else is needed, I'm marking it done on our end

[seanlip]

Sorry for the late reply on this.

Questions for @seanlip - can we clarify terminology on this page? So far, I'm seeing:

Course = the whole section (for example, all "math" content is under a "Basic Mathematics" course)
Topic = individual subject within a course (for example, "Place Values")
Lesson = a section within a topic - however, these also seem to be called "chapters"? And am I correct in that the "community library" is more of a "topic library", since each card on that page seems to lead to a topic (as opposed to a course, lesson, or chapter?)

The structure for course/topic is correct. Internally we have also referred to a "course" as a "classroom" or "subject". I'm open to better names for all of these. Does UXW want to weigh in on that? One note is that it would be nice to keep "Topic" if possible since that term is being used all over the place, but it would be great to understand what you all think. The term "course", on the other hand, can easily be changed.

Each topic (like Fractions) has lessons and practice questions. The lessons typically combine to form a story, which is why they are also called chapters. For example, the Place Values topic has 5 lessons, which combine to form the story about Jaime: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/place-values/story.

The community library is actually a lesson library, not a topic library. Each card on that page leads to a single lesson. A topic, on the other hand, is represented by a page like this: https://www.oppia.org/learn/math/place-values/story -- and includes lessons, practice questions, and revision cards / study guides. This is not the case for the links on the community library.

I hope this clarifies, but please let me know if you have any questions about the above @tamiorendain and @davishedrick. Could you also please confirm whether this affect any of the copy in this comment?

[seanlip]

Some additional thoughts about the copy:

• Point 2 (Community Library Callout) might need to be changed, based on the above.
• For point 3 -- I am a bit unsure about "clicking the Place Values lessons". Should it be "clicking on"?
• Point 11: I am concerned that "portion of a whole" may not be easily understandable to students at the outset -- it sounds a bit technical. Is there a better way to phrase this?

Also, I have updated points 5-10 on the website (note: I think in point 5 that "subjection" should be "subtraction"). So in subsequent comments feel free to omit those -- thanks!

[tamiorendain]

Ahh good insight @seanlip. I think we should keep the terminology as it is for now, but I'd love to have a wider UXW conversation about terminology (and this falls nicely in line with our goal to create a terminology library)

That being said, let's continue with:

2. Community Library Callout
   Heading: MORE LESSONS
   Body: Learn with lessons made by our community.

3. Math course
   Heading: Course Overview
   Body:
   Suggested update: This course teaches the basic building blocks of math. Each topic builds on the last, starting with simple topics, then progressing to more advanced lessons. Start at the beginning with "Place Values," or dive into any topic! [note: we may not even need this last sentence! I'd be ok with removing.]
   Topics covered heading and body: Remove

4. Percentages:

• Slight revision: You might use percentages when managing money or calculating expenses. In this topic, you'll learn how to convert percentages into fractions and decimals, and how to apply them to real-life situations.

cc: @davishedrick for visibility!

[seanlip]

Thanks @tamiorendain! Couple questions about the most recent versions:

For point 3, re the last sentence, is it better to keep it in or omit it? Tech team can do either so I would defer to UXW to make the call here.

For point 4, I just realized, unlike all the other topics, that it's not actually clear at the outset what this topic teaches. Is it possible to change the content (not just style) of the blurb to give students a better understanding/example of what they will actually be able to do after completing the corresponding lessons, similar to the other ones? Applying discounts or calculating profits would probably be common examples, but feel free to use others as well.

[davishedrick]

3. Math Course
   I think your idea to remove the last sentence is great @tamiorendain. I don't think it would be a negative to keep it, but it doesn't hold a strong purpose compared to the other two sentences.

4. Percentages
   Suggested:
   Percentages show parts of something and are useful for managing money, calculating scores, or tracking progress. Learn to convert percentages into fractions or decimals and use them in everyday life.

@seanlip There is only so much we can do to simplify the concept of percentages. I think "parts of a whole" is clearer. The phrasing here is simpler: "parts of something," but it comes at the cost of being more vague. Ill defer to you and Tami on the final phrasing. Additionally, while not as specific as "applying discounts or calculating profits" these examples: "managing money, calculating scores, and tracking progress," show the application without tying down the concept of percentages to a specific domain (managing money).

[tamiorendain]

3. Let's remove that last sentence!

4. How about a slight rewrite? Let me know what you think @davishedrick and @seanlip:

A percentage describes a small part of a bigger amount, like how many questions you answer correctly on an exam. You might use percentages when managing money or tracking progress. In this topic, you'll learn how to apply percentages to real-life situations and how to convert them into fractions and decimals.

[seanlip]

@tamiorendain Thanks, the new suggestion for percentages looks good, but it exceeds the length limit of 240 characters! Possible to make it shorter?

[davishedrick]

@seanlip @tamiorendain What about:

A percentage describes a small part of a bigger amount, like how many questions you answer correctly on an exam. They're useful for managing money or tracking progress. Learn to apply percentages in real life and convert them into fractions or decimals.

[tamiorendain]

Handed to PM!

[seanlip]

Hi @davishedrick and @tamiorendain, that text is 253 characters. There's a limit of 240 though.

I've moved this back to "In Progress" since the above makes it not implementable yet.

[davishedrick]

Oh wow, apologies @seanlip. I fed it to chatgpt to check, probably not the best idea. Here's an updated version. It's below 240 I promise.

A percentage describes a small part of a larger amount, like how many questions you answer correctly on an exam. Learn to convert them into fractions or decimals and use them in real life, such as managing money or tracking progress.

CC: 233

[tamiorendain]

Thank you @davishedrick, handing back to PM

[seanlip]

Thanks! Made the changes. Also applied some small edits: "A percentage describes a part of a larger amount, like how many questions you answer correctly on an exam. Learn to convert them into fractions or decimals and use them in real life, such as when managing money or tracking progress." (added "when" near the end, and dropped "small" because that suggests the student doesn't answer many questions correctly on the exam :P )

I have one final question though. In the other topic descriptions, the tone used is more "inviting" -- e.g. see #157 (comment), all of them are like "In this topic, you will learn how to do X". For Percentages, it's more like a command: "Learn how to do X.", so that stands out a bit when compared to the others. Wanted to check if that difference is intentional? If not then should we find a way to standardize them?

Thanks!

---

Also listing the final updates here in a single place for easy reference for when I file the dev issue:

1. Navbar dropdown:
   Heading: Basic Mathematics
   Revision: Build a strong foundation in math, from addition to percentages.

2. Community Library Callout
   Heading: MORE LESSONS
   Body: Learn with lessons made by our community.

3. Math course
   Heading: Course Overview
   Body: This course teaches the basic building blocks of math. Each topic builds on the last, starting with simple topics, then progressing to more advanced lessons.
   "Topics covered" heading and body: Remove

4. Community library search
   Heading: Explore more lessons
   Body: Remove the body entirely
   Search icon: Remove left icon
   Help text: What do you want to learn?

[davishedrick]

@seanlip you're right to point out that the more standardized these course descriptions are, the better. However, the reason percentages opens with "Learn how to..." instead of "In this topic, you'll learn how to" was purely a determination based on character count.

I think using the precious character count to focus on what the percentages lesson content will be is better than making sure we are consistent on phrasing.

That being said, I took another stab at it and here's what I came up with:

A percentage represents a small part of a larger amount, like the questions you get right on a test. In this topic, you'll learn to convert them into fractions or decimals and use them in real life, like managing money or tracking progress.

With all of the back and forth on this specific description, I don't think we're gonna get much better than this. Let me know what you think.

[seanlip]

Thanks @davishedrick -- good point re the character count. I think it's OK to keep the previous one, since "use them in real life, like managing money or tracking progress" sounds a bit off to me. I have made the updates!