Recipient Organization
Learnimation, LLC
55 Washington Street, Suite 454
Brooklyn,NY 11201
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This Phase II project will work toward increasing the math and science problem solving capacities of high need rural students and their teachers. Math and science and the ability to solve problems in these disciplines lie at the heart of technical innovation and economic security in today's global marketplace. Research has demonstrated that early math skills are the strongest predictor of future academic performance across many domains, including reading. Similarly, the acquisition of higher skill levels in math and science can have significant effects on labor market success. Sustainable development at the local level requires a technically proficient workforce capable of complex problem solving and high achieving schools, especially to attract the agriculturally-related manufacturing and alternative or renewable energy innovation contracts that are drivers in economic development for rural communities. Yet despite nearly a decade of research, access to the high quality math and science curricula that will prepare students for this level of competition is severely limited by a complex set of circumstances including outmigration, geographic isolation and the national shortage of trained math educators and math specialists. Learnimation's distance learning solution will help rural school districts provide access to a high quality math and science problem solving program that is research-based, aligned with the new Common Core Math Standards and integrates internationally-acclaimed problem solving instruction techniques. The research timeline will design, build and validate a web-based Student Problem Solving System that trains students in the full breadth of problem scenarios recommended by the National Math Panel and the Common Core Math Standards. Learnimation will translate current research-based techniques into an engaging learning experience that will be individualized for each student based on his/her unique needs. The team will work with rural teachers and school administrators to tailor the program for their needs, including refining reporting interfaces that enable data-based decision-making. Using these methods, this project will build, refine and deliver a distance learning system that has the potential to increase capacity for problem solving in both students and their teachers. Additionally, the methodology may result in increased understanding in the software development process, in the translation of research to practice and in the structure of research studies that examine the efficacy of intervention tools.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
The major goal of this project is to provide high need rural districts access to research-based instructional material that develops student mastery of problem solving content from K-8th grade. Early math and science intervention in problem solving has been shown to facilitate peak performance and to engage students in math, science and technology for the long term. However, access to the instructional materials that develop this type of mastery is limited for geographically and financially-isolated high need rural schools. The specific technical objectives include: (1) Defining the requirements for problem content; (2) Completing the Instructional Design; (3) Translating the Instructional Design into the Technical Design; (4) Planning the research methodology that will examine efficacy of the program; (5) Building the commercial product in two software iterations; and (6) Conducting the initial efficacy studies. An opportunity exists to offer high need rural districts access to research-based instructional materials through a distance learning application that delivers problem solving practice on-demand, and in doing so, to better prepare the next generation rural workforce for the type of technical problem solving that lies at the heart of agricultural innovation in manufacturing and innovation in renewable energy technologies. A workforce that is well-trained in math and science problem solving will be better prepared to sustain the rural community long term and will promote job creation and income growth in the area.
Project Methods
Learnimation will meet its goals on this SBIR Phase II timeline with a customer development methodology (CDM) that makes learning about rural teacher's and rural school administrator's needs the critical driver in the product development methodology. The purpose of this methodology is to include end user and customer feedback as much as possible and to ask software development teams to refine iterations of the software within a loop of customer discovery and customer validation until the product is successful with the target audience.