Situation
Getting ready for the Eleven Plus test in the UK is hard work, especially for kids ages 10 to 11. It's not just about finding the right answer; it's also about knowing how to solve problems.
But the solutions that were already in place weren't working.
A lot of the time, students knew the right answers but had trouble understanding why they were right. But teachers didn't have the time to help each student one-on-one.
As time went on, a few important problems became clear:
- Students were memorizing instead of understanding.
- Feedback was late or not there at all* Teachers didn't have a clear, data-driven picture of how well their students were doing.
- There weren't many practice materials, and they were all the same.
Because of this, the learning process wasn't getting better in a way that made sense or could be used by a lot of people.
Task
The goal was to come up with a solution that could:
- Give each student: step-by-step, personalized help
- Give: instant and relevant feedback
- Allow for "active learning" instead of "passive consumption"
- Make it easy for teachers to see how well their students are doing
- Grow in a way that doesn't make you more reliant on one-on-one teaching
In short, the job was to rethink how to get ready for the Eleven Plus test from both the student and the teacher's points of view.
