Meeting 1 - 30 October

On October 30th, 2023, we embarked on an exciting journey in early childhood education. Our first meeting with IXN mentors - 2 senior research fellows from UCL's Institute of Education named Laura and Jo - set the stage for a transformative project focused on children's math development through innovative apps and research. In this blog post, we'll highlight key insights from the meeting that laid the foundation for our venture.

The Vision:

Our mentors introduced a captivating vision — an assessment app to boost children's math skills. Inspired by developmental psychology, our "Maths @ Home" app will equip parents with engaging math activities for their kids.

Expanding Horizons:

We discussed the need to scale our app for all age groups, moving beyond the initial preschooler target. Adapting content and structure to cater to diverse age groups is a priority.

The Research Perspective:

We emphasized scripting the flow, designing backend and frontend structures, and implementing questions. Prior to full-scale testing, we'll conduct a pilot phase to resolve potential issues.

Design and Structure:

To ensure data integrity, we'll link parents' and children's data and conduct two assessments. We're committed to ethical data handling, ensuring anonymity through secure logins and unique user IDs.

Meeting Ethical Standards:

We'll implement secure login with minimal personal data shared. User IDs will provide necessary data while protecting identities. Researchers may assign project ID numbers for differentiation.

The Prototype:

Our user-friendly prototype caters to children, parents, and researchers. Each group will have tailored functionalities: tasks for children, questionnaires for parents, and comprehensive data tables for researchers.

Conclusion:

Our meeting with IXN mentors set a promising course for our project. With a focus on ethics, scalability, and usability, we aim to create an app that enhances early math education. Stay tuned for updates as we embark on this transformative journey.


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