SunRush.Demo.mov
We at Leche Flan Studios saw a growing need for accessible tools to combat summer learning loss aimed towards families that seek access to affordable summer learning programs for their children aged 7-10. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to remote learning heightened academic challenges as students transitioned back to in-person settings. These challenges are heightened when considering summer learning loss. Students may lose up to 2.5 months of computational maths skills, and 2 months of reading, and by the time they’re in 6th grade can lose 18 months of learning. We found socioeconomic standing can affect which children are most likely to experience summer student loss. Quality education is something all children should have a chance at obtaining no matter their standing. 51% of families not participating in a summer program say they would if one was available to them. Therefore, we wish to bring forward an at-home, accessible, and affordable solution for students who experience a lack of resources and help break through those barriers.
By harnessing children's commonly shared enthusiasm for gaming, we developed SunRush, an immersive game designed to inspire youth to embark on an exciting journey through both augmented reality and the great outdoors, all while absorbing essential educational topics. Users can explore the areas where they live or visit such as local parks, libraries, and gardens to look at the special items locationally and randomly generated around. They can tap to catch these items, and once caught the user will obtain a new item card. Item cards prompt the user to read a few sentences, strengthening their reading, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. However, before they collect the card, the user must show that they’ve digested the new findings from the item as they are faced with a multiple-choice question based on earlier content. They can collect sets of cards to achieve special badges. Our goal is to have the user collect many badges throughout the summer. To ensure they can see how far they’ve come, users can view all of their collected badges in their badge library as an incentive to collect more while continuously learning!
- Design: Figma, Procreate
- Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Tailwind CSS, AR.js, A-Frame
- Backend: Next.js, MongoDB Atlas, AWS S3, Google Places API, Auth0, Vercel, GoDaddy
- GitHub (good coding practices with branch protection rules and a CI pipeline, yay!)
From 0 experience in building an AR game to learning Next.js, A-Frame and AR.js in just 48 hours... many curveballs were thrown our way, from improperly loading 3D models to unpredictable coordinate tracking.
- Fun and accessible design
- Pushing through the Next.js and A-Frame learning curve
- Getting familiar with GitHub
Building an AR progressive web app is exciting but laborious!
- Applying higher quality 3D models/assets
- Integrating advanced features like a third-person view within a map to discover local resources like libraries, community events, and free workshops/programs
- Increasing content quantity & quality; partnering with schools and teachers to create a curriculum that is relevant to a student's current academic level
- Encouraging consistent learning by gamifying with daily rewards and missions