A successful learning process is more than just textbooks and exercise books and writing long essays. It can be whatever creative educators can turn it into. Neurodio team realises that and designs engrossing educative games to teach children maths.
Behind the project, there is an interdisciplinary team. Karolina Finc, Neuroscience Researcher, and Lukasz Goraczewski, responsible for Game Design, are academics from the University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Torun. They work closely with Neurocognitive Laboratory operating at the Centre for Modern Interdisciplinary Technologies, under professor Włodzisław Duch. They’ve got experience in both scientific research and game design, which makes them perfect for this project. Mirek Manelski oversees Business Development and deals with communication. He’s previously worked in Exea Smart Space incubator, The Technology Transfer Centre UMK and ARRIVA RP.
“We’ve got our own research team, who carry out neuropsychological research professionally. What’s more, we design cognitive training programmes, which are in fact games, with suitable mechanics and investing gameplay. We don’t create digitalised psychological tests, and we’re basing on authorial solutions that are based on research,” says Mirek Manelski from Neurodio.
Neurodio games aim to help people with learning difficulties. Their products are tested and verified; they offer a real alternative to traditional teaching. They use technology in the learning process so that the training is both attractive and more effective.
Their game Kalkulito is right now available in beta. The player takes on the role of a cosmic cadet who lost communication with the base and has to travel through the space to find his way back home. The journey is fun and educational, and it leaves you with fundamental arithmetic skills.
Neurodio started from working with children who’ve got problems with maths because it’s a part of their research.
“Our main goal is to use a computer and mobile games as a part of the therapeutic process. What we aim to do is redirecting the attention children pay to games into the involvement in the cognitive process. This way the training can be more effective and bring better results,” says Mirek.
At the end of last year, they’ve pivoted and started selling a different product. During the first five months, the product was tested in almost fifty psychological-pedagogical counselling centres in Poland, thanks to the cooperation with Promathematica. The other project that’s supposed to be the Neurodio’s business core must wait until they’ve got the funds to run the testing and check its effectiveness. So far the pilot tests gave very positive results, as they show Neurodio’s tools are a great help to children with learning difficulties.
At the moment, they’re bootstrapping and have started selling their first product. If you want to check Kalkulito out, you can test the game online or check it out on an Android device.
