Gamemaker PolyMath aims to make mathematics learning as pleasant as Roblox

As game platforms such as Roblox and Minecraft continue to grow in popularity among young children, and with platforms such as YouTube who consume hours of their daily screen time, edtech's companies face challenges to capture their attention.

Scholar Its objective is to address this by combining gamified mechanics inspired by these popular games with adaptive mathematics lessons so that the learning experience is more pleasant.

The Sandbox Educational Game allows children to explore a virtual island where they can customize avatars, build with bricks and other materials, and interact with villagers. To progress in the game, children must complete questions related to mathematics, which guarantees that they remain focused on their educational objectives.

The startup announced on Monday its financing round prior to the $ 1 million seed, which will help its platform to reach additional markets. The increase was directed by Blackbird Ventures and GD1. In particular, Liam Don, director of technology at Classdojo, is an Ángel investor.

Sophie Silver, co -founder and Executive Director of PolyMath, studied human learning, development and development psychology at University College London (UCL). While working as a part -time babysitter during his studies, he noticed a gap in children's mathematical skills and realized that it was becoming increasingly difficult to make the lessons entertaining for them.

“The children really did not enjoy mathematics, so it would begin to invent games, mainly with cards or dice, to try to motivate them to make their multiplication or whatever they should do,” Sophie Silver told Techcrunch. “(I realized) of the way these children are learning is not aligned with the way the brain works.”

PolyMath uses an adaptive algorithm to customize learning for each child based on their progress. The company analyzes children's responses to identify the best question to ask below, recognize knowledge gaps and optimize the moment of new information to prevent the child from feeling overwhelmed.

In addition to the basic mathematics lesson function, there are learning opportunities within the virtual world. For example, if players want to build a house in the game, they need to measure the dimensions and calculate how many wooden blocks they need.

“There is a merchant where you can buy things as resources, and sometimes that merchant is not reliable and will give you the incorrect price. Each wood block costs 5 “cubes” (the coin in PolyMath). You are asking for buying 4, but you are trying to charge 30 cubes. That is a critical moment of thought for the student to recognize that the price is wrong, “said Christian Silver, co -founder and Cto.

PolyMath offers a home version and a classroom version. The classroom version allows teachers to monitor students in real time. In this version, all players can work together in a shared space, answering questions simultaneously. If the classroom does not have enough available devices, PolyMath has an option that calls players to answer the following question, so each student is involved.

The home version allows parents to administer their children's experience and receive weekly email reports about the progress of their children. There is also an application for parents, PolyMath relates, where parents can see detailed answers to each question their child has answered.

In addition, children can connect with a friend in PolyMath using a single friend code. However, when played in multiplayer mode, there is no chat function available.

PolyMath launched in January 2023 through Startmate accelerator in New Zealand. He has obtained thousands of users in Arizona, California, Florida, Texas and Virginia, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Future plans for the game include expanding the curriculum to offer more advanced learning opportunities and allow a collaborative game, where children can work together in trouble. In addition, PolyMath plans to introduce avatable assets acquired as a flow of income in the future.

PolyMath is free to play on the web, iOSand <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.celadon.appmathsandroid”>Android devices