KiwriousEngaging students in hands-on science investigations
Feb 2020 - Jun 2021
Scope: UX research, UX/UI design I led the end to end design of the Kiwrious science learning platform, from research to final design, handoff and deployment. I worked mostly remotely with a team based in New Zealand and Sri Lanka. We commissioned Frontier Studio to design a branding guide and UI kit. I used that guide to design our web UI, packaging and collaterals. |
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Individual sensor kit packaging and user manual
Class sensor set packaging and information booklet
Challenge
Declining student achievement in science and disengagement with science learning has been a concern in New Zealand for some years.
The Augmented Human Lab set out to engage and support New Zealand intermediate and lower secondary teachers and students in hands-on, curiosity-driven scientific investigations.
We applied for and received funding from the Unlocking Curious Minds fund to build a plug and play sensor kit and online platform that would enable students to learn science though "doing science".
The Augmented Human Lab set out to engage and support New Zealand intermediate and lower secondary teachers and students in hands-on, curiosity-driven scientific investigations.
We applied for and received funding from the Unlocking Curious Minds fund to build a plug and play sensor kit and online platform that would enable students to learn science though "doing science".
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Process
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Process
Exploratory Research
Learning from teachers
We interviewed 5 teachers to find out more about their experience conducting science investigations and the challenges they faced. We learnt that:
Teachers value how investigations bring about
❤️ Better student engagement
Challenges doing science investigations in class
⏱ Finding time - Investigations are time consuming to prepare for and carry out
🧠 Encouraging students to think and work "scientifically"
We also surveyed 10 teachers - asking them to rank sensor types according to what would be most exciting to use in class, and to explain their top choice.
Themes that emerged from the explanations teachers provided for their ranking were:
Teachers value how investigations bring about
❤️ Better student engagement
- Students respond well when the learning is hands on
- Collecting their own data is a concrete experience that helps students better understand and connect to theoretical content
Challenges doing science investigations in class
⏱ Finding time - Investigations are time consuming to prepare for and carry out
🧠 Encouraging students to think and work "scientifically"
- Thinking critically about results, patterns, trends and interpreting the data
- Understanding the need for processes they find tedious e.g. taking multiple measurements
- Students come into their class with different levels of understanding of science investigation
We also surveyed 10 teachers - asking them to rank sensor types according to what would be most exciting to use in class, and to explain their top choice.
Themes that emerged from the explanations teachers provided for their ranking were:
- Relevance for students - to their personal experience and the real world
- Comfort level with a subject or topic - based on their academic background and experience teaching
Learning from students
To learn more about how students would use a sensor and carry out an investigation, we observed students using a prototype of a guided experiment and their free exploration with the ultraviolet (UV) and light sensor afterwards. The prototype was developed during the first COVID-19 lockdown in New Zealand, when we had limited access to teachers and classrooms. I worked on the UI screens together with Qin and Xinke.
The experiment had a storyline related to UV protection. It is a topic New Zealand children are familiar with from an early age and many schools have SunSmart educational programs and policies.
The experiment had a storyline related to UV protection. It is a topic New Zealand children are familiar with from an early age and many schools have SunSmart educational programs and policies.
Ultraviolet light guided experiment tested with students
I pilot tested the prototype with 2 children using video calls with screen-sharing and my teammates brought it into 2 classrooms to observe and record their use in a classroom context. I reviewed their observation notes, recordings, and feedback received from teachers (in post-session chats) and students (via a feedback form).
Pilot testing the UV experiment in a video call
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Clustering feedback submitted by students
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Feedback was generally positive. A common request students made was to be able to test the UV protection of more types of materials as they were limited to investigating 2 materials in the guided experiment.
Observing students' behaviours and body language during the experiment and free exploration afterwards was more revealing.
Observing students' behaviours and body language during the experiment and free exploration afterwards was more revealing.
Key observations
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Scoping and clarifying our goals
At this stage the team had lots of different ideas on what a platform for students to create and share their own inquiries could include (virtual pets, graphs, badges, augmented reality!).
I also realised that trying to build software and create content to cover all the science capabilities in depth was too ambitious. We had just 6-8 months more to develop, test and deploy a robust version to schools with our small team.
I organised a scoping session for key stakeholders on the team to narrow down our target users, desired learning outcomes and experience goals.
At this stage the team had lots of different ideas on what a platform for students to create and share their own inquiries could include (virtual pets, graphs, badges, augmented reality!).
I also realised that trying to build software and create content to cover all the science capabilities in depth was too ambitious. We had just 6-8 months more to develop, test and deploy a robust version to schools with our small team.
I organised a scoping session for key stakeholders on the team to narrow down our target users, desired learning outcomes and experience goals.
Users
Teachers
Science specialists with more than 3 years teaching experience
Science specialists with more than 3 years teaching experience
Students
Year 9 - 10 (Junior science)
Year 9 - 10 (Junior science)
Learning outcomesFocus area: Nature of Science
📡 Science is empirical 👭 Science is collaborative 🐣 Science is tentative |
UX Goals
* These principles are originally from Mitch Resnick
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Key features
Capturing photos together with measurements
Students can use photos and a label to explain what they are measuring. Writing a detailed description and adding measurement notes are optional.
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Goals:
🎟 Low floor 🤩 Fun Problem:
Writing / typing is a significant barrier for some students. It is a chore for many. 
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Measure first, explain later
Measurement starts immediately when first launching a project.
Students can measure many things before deciding to capture a measurement. Prompts to title and describe their inquiry come after measurements are taken. |
Goals:
🎟 Low floor 🚀 Inspire curiosity 📡 Science is empirical Observations:
Explore immediately Explore everything Thinking as you go
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Share and Discover
Publishing is set up as the default end point for each inquiry. Students can share quick and random observations or more elaborate experiments with detailed instructions. They can see inquiries published by everyone in their school in the 'Discover' tab, search through them, and filter by sensor type and author.
Photos and colourful sensor labels make skimming through inquiries more appealing. |
Goals:
👯 Social 🚀 Inspire curiosity 👭 Science is collaborative Observations:
Explore everything See and compare
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Replicating measurements
Students can ‘replicate’ their own inquiries and invite their friends to do so. Scorecards display the number of ‘similar’, ‘different’ and ‘not sure’ results.
This emphasises the tentative and collaborative nature of science and gives students a concrete reason to both repeat their measurements and provide clearer instructions for others to follow.
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Goals:
👯 Social ❤️ Meaningful 🚀 Inspire curiosity 🐣 Science is tentative 👭 and collaborative Problem:
Taking repeat measurements is good scientific practice but students find it tedious.
Observations:
Students tend look at what others are doing and try the same thing. 
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Teacher support - resource site and community
To make it easy for teachers to get started, we built an educator site and provided lesson exemplars for each sensor aligned with the New Zealand science curriculum. The exemplars use materials that teachers can find easily at home or in school to minimise prep time for each lesson. Hannah designed the educator site during her internship with us and Dawn wrote up the exemplars.
Dawn and I also set up a professional development community private group on facebook for teachers to share ideas, experiences and resources with each other.
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Goals:
🎟 Low floor Problem:
Teachers are short on time and investigations are time consuming to plan and prepare for. Covering the curriculum is a priority. |
Results
Pilot deployment to 35 schools
Over 4200 sensors were deployed to 35 schools across New Zealand through a series of workshops in May 2021.
Teachers were enthusiastic and excited about using them in their classroom.
Teachers were enthusiastic and excited about using them in their classroom.
It makes collecting data, things which can be quite strenuous normally, quite exciting and fun.
Initial usage and feedback
488 inquiries were saved or published by students within the first 2 months of use and the number continues to grow. It was fantastic to see the students using the sensors to investigate all kinds of things - including matters very personal to them like thinking about someone they had a crush on, and all sorts of body smells.
Some student inquiry topics that were shared with us (images have been replaced)
Teachers have reported good student engagement in their classrooms as well.
Definitely even the most reluctant students will go and find a chromebook from a friend, or borrow one just so they can use the sensors.
Most students engage well because there's a level for everybody... there's room to be on any level and still be successful.
I was particularly happy to hear this teacher's unprompted description of one class doing replications:
It was funny... they all went in and tried to replicate each other’s and they were going "Aw miss, I can’t do it, such-and-such didn’t leave enough instructions!" and I was like - this is what I’ve been trying to tell you the whole time!
Continual research: building a community, analytics and interviews
We continue to engage teachers through the professional development community private facebook group and have started organising monthly webinars to encourage sharing and discussion.
I set up a report for stakeholders to monitor the usage of the online platform using google data studio, combining data from google analytics and our database.
With this data I identified active, inactive and drop-off users about a month after receiving the sensors. I reached out to active and drop-off users for interviews to find out how they were using the sensors in class and problems encountered. We also offered help and refresher sessions to drop-off and inactive users to understand barriers to use. We will use what we learn to prioritise improvements and inform future product development.
With this data I identified active, inactive and drop-off users about a month after receiving the sensors. I reached out to active and drop-off users for interviews to find out how they were using the sensors in class and problems encountered. We also offered help and refresher sessions to drop-off and inactive users to understand barriers to use. We will use what we learn to prioritise improvements and inform future product development.
Related projects: