Engineering Insights from Our Elementary Classroom Visit

By seeing our apps in action, our engineering team witnessed the genuine enthusiasm and creativity exhibited by students, gaining valuable appreciation of learning experience design.

Never Underestimate the Value of Real Life Use in the Classroom

Imagine the excitement of witnessing something you created come to life, being utilized by elementary students. The opportunity to see it in action offers invaluable insights that go far beyond what any anecdotal feedback can provide. Our software engineers recently had this opportunity and wanted to share some highlights from their experience and how it shapes our approach to creating effective learning apps.

Clarity’s software engineers paid a visit to W.L. Henry Elementary School in Hillsboro, Oregon to see the Math apps we created for Math Learning Center in action. Bodie Wood, our former intern, is married to Kadysha Wood, a dual language 2nd grade teacher at the school. She organized a visit to see how the students use our apps in a real classroom setting.

As expected, observing authentic classroom usage of any app proved to be highly valuable. It gave our software engineers insights into future feature and interface adjustments based on students' interactions with the apps. For many engineers, it marked their first return to a classroom since the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences greatly contribute to our ability to better align our apps with the needs of both students and educators.

Clarity Team L-R: Tim Rayle, Jonathan Maier, Greg Watson, Dei Biddy, Kelly de Vries, and intern Bodie Wood outside WL Henry Elementary School

Observations and Discoveries

One insight we came away with is that students weren’t aware of some features like “lasso” selection and object duplication, both of which can save time while using the apps. One of our software engineers, Tim Rayle, demonstrated the features to a couple of students, and watched them eagerly share the knowledge with their friends. It's amazing how rapidly a little information can spread virally through the classroom! This experience reinforced the idea that small changes like enhancing the discoverability of features can lead to significant improvements in user engagement.

In addition to observing, Tim Rayle demonstrated to the class how we create the apps, briefly showing a bit of the code used in the Number Frames app. This prompted some great questions — “how do you read that language?” The students’ engagement and fascination was gratifying. For fun, Tim even changed one of the counter icons to their teacher's face, resulting in a big laugh from the students. Who knows, we might have sparked the curiosity of a few future software engineers!

Tim changing the icon counter to teacher, Kadysha Wood’s face

Another of our software engineers, Dei Biddy, observed that using touch screens was more common than using a mouse or trackpad. This provoked questions such as, could we make the apps even more intuitive by supporting more touch gestures?

Learning and Play

Learning through play can be incredibly powerful and effective in learning geometric concepts! When students are given the chance to free play with shapes, they create an organic understanding of concepts like spatial relationships, angles, and reflections. Educators can observe how students use the shapes and informally assess how students think and talk about shapes.

Our team observed the MLC math apps being used not only as powerful learning tools, but also sources of exploration and play for the students, one of the benefits of the intentionally open-ended design of these digital manipulatives. It was fascinating to see how the kids used the apps creatively, making butterflies and cars out of geometric shapes, and enthusiastically sharing their creations with their peers.

Butterfly made on the MLC Pattern Shapes app

For every app we craft, we make sure it stands the test of making a difference for its users. From enhancing user experience, to uncovering unanticipated usage patterns, taking time to meet with real users sparks curiosity, provides validation, and invigorates our unwavering dedication to creating apps that improve the process and practice of teaching and learning.

“Being back in the classroom and witnessing the enthusiasm of the kids while using our apps was an absolute joy for the team,” noted software engineer Kelly de Vries.

We’re committed to enhancing the learning experience and making a positive difference for education. Connect with us today to learn how our insights can enhance your products or services.