In a previous article about technology and education, we introduced ABRACADABRA program which attempts to eradicate illiteracy and improve reading.

Today, we present an article related to technology to learn mathematics created by Erudite science.

Interview with Patrick Poirier, president and founder of Erudite Science

• Tell us a little a bit about Erudite science and its tool box called Sphinx

Sphinx speeds up development of educational games and applications. It is the first platform that encourages collaborative creation of educative games and applications and facilitates the collaboration between game developers and creators of pedagogical materials. In fact, Sphinx is a platform that allows game and application developers to easily and quickly create educative material for the new generation. Sphinx proposes these developers extensions and modules that they can directly integrate in their games. They no longer need to create these software tools themselves which saves them a lot of money and time.

• Why mathematics? Have you thought of any other school subject?

The choice of mathematics over other subjects is related to costs. It is easier to set up the tools for math since it is more objective in comparison with other subjects such as reading for instance.

• Who are the target clients?

The target clients include: game and application developers for the new generation and producers of educational materials such as editors of school books who would like to share educational content.

Moreover, educational institutions and teachers who intend to use it in class and take advantage of the intelligent tutor and statistics about their students.

• What are some of the characteristics of Sphinx and how does it position itself as an educational tool?

Sphinx positions itself on three levels; intelligent tutor innovation, personalized learning as well as educative database. Firstly, thanks to its automatic and interactive system, this intelligent tutor offers the players auditory and visual feedback as well as direct advice at each step of the problem. Until now, no educative platform has been able to offer appropriate feedback to learners based on their answers. The intelligent tutor is in line with the new generation of educational games and Web 3.0 and actively participates in the learning process by adapting itself to the learner and at the same time the content. Secondly, its systematic analysis of the learning process offers a customized solution to learners. It allows the teacher to receive statistics on their students and identify their weaknesses and strengths in order to modify the game and reinforce certain parts of the curriculum. Our platform innovates by personalizing the content for each player in order to offer them learning in demand.

• What school grades are aimed at?

For the time being, the elementary levels are targeted since math basics are taught in these grades. As children go up the grades, math becomes more and more difficult and there’s a need for more complex algorithm. It is easier to develop softwares for addition than trigonometry or complex numbers for example. But in the long term, the objective is to offer the Sphinx to high school and universities.

• Is the model exportable?

Sphinx will be offered as a “software as a service.” It will be inserted in game engines such as Unity. It will also be offered in the form of licence. Sphinx will be available for all the developers in Canada as well as around the world. The set-up tools are flexible and they can adapt to the curriculum. It is therefore for this reason that it is standardized to adapt to the projects of web developers, suppliers, teachers, study cycles as well as the realities of education.

Therefore, it is absolutely possible to set-up tools that apply to the reality of education in Africa.

For more information visit: www.eruditescience.com

Translation by Bahar Hoshyar