On Tuesday morning, Alex and I headed over to Lawson Middle School in Cupertino to conduct more in-depth user testing. While we interfaced primarily with students at our launch event at Synapse School three weeks ago, this visit to Lawson was focused on getting insights from the teachers about the framing and presentation of Kaleidoscope — our latest prototype — in a classroom setting. We ended up with almost twenty teachers trying out our product and gained some valuable perspectives regarding how we might best make our product useful as a teaching and assessment tool for instructors.
Carol, our liaison, met us at the front office around 11 AM, and led us to the community room at the back of the library where Alex and I set up shop. We were scheduled to be there for 4th period, lunch, and 5th period from roughly 11:30 AM to 2 PM, when teachers could stop by when they got the chance. We had teachers try out our 6-minute-long prototype and fill out a short survey about the game afterwards. With the remaining time, we interviewed them about their own experiences with empathy in the classroom and how they might envision a product like Kaleidoscope fitting into the curriculum, if at all.
Game feedback
Feedback for the game itself echoed mostly the same concerns as those voiced by students at Synapse, and we’re working on those as we speak. Some interesting points: adults seemed to be more comfortable with the controls and navigating in the space environment, even with minimal experience playing video games or using an XBox controller. Most teachers felt that the objective was clear (though across the board, teachers reported different objectives, e.g. finding astronauts, experiencing the story in more depth). The top three positive emotions experienced were curious (80%), calm (60%), and inspired (33.3%); the top three negative emotions experienced were anxious (20%), confused (20%), and worried (20%).
Empathy in classrooms
We had the opportunity to interview more than half of the participants, who helped us develop a better understanding of the role of empathy in the classroom. Empathy mostly played out in the form of teamwork and collaboration, and this was common across all school subjects. Laura, a 6th grade math and social studies teacher, gave us an example of what empathy looks like in her math classroom. Lawson Middle School recently switched to the CPM Educational Program for its math curriculum — one key aspect of CPM is that it is team-based math classwork. Because of the wide range of competencies in one classroom, group work can lead to different issues. Some students take up the lion’s share of the work because they are concerned about others jeopardizing their performance in a group. Others are behind and unable to vocalize their need for help.
When asked about how these group conflicts were usually solved, many teachers emphasized the importance of laying down ground rules at the beginning of the school year and providing structure and strategies for students to address problems with each other. Teachers also make it a point to emphasize that being able to work with others is an invaluable skill.
Laura remarked on students’ self-centeredness at this period of their life and affirmed that one of the most rewarding parts of her job is when she sees students discover what it means to work together. We heard the sentiment that students at this age tend to be in “me-mode” multiple times, which in turn emphasized the importance of helping students increase their social and emotional learning during this transitional period.
Responses from the teacher regarding the use of our product varied, but for the most part, were all positive. Because we’re aiming to make Kaleidoscope an assessment tool, it understandably should be done at least a few times a year so to track students’ social and emotional growth. Some teachers voiced that this was personally not feasible for everyone in their own classroom to do due to lack of time — but could see this being used for a few students at a time (e.g. as an admin tool, or for groups that are struggling to work together). Many teachers were really excited about the prospect of VR for learning purposes after trying our prototype— imagine being able to go through Mariana Trench, or explore a biopic of Darwin and other historical settings.
Some other salient points and reminders: empathy takes time to build. Our current prototype is a life and death situation, but daily life does not feel like it has the same gravity. Linda, a 6th grade math and science teacher, suggested changing the competitive element of comparing how many astronauts were found into something more collaborative — e.g. students can choose help their teammates find astronauts or go on their own, but there are different consequences for each. Mrs. D, a 7th grade math teacher, relayed to us that what she wants her students to do most is to “buy in,” to collaborate and work together not because the teacher wants them to but because they actually see and believe in the power of teamwork. Laura wondered out loud how we could tie our product to students’ daily experiences so to increase empathy. VR certainly potential given its immersion and the degree to which it allow users to explore the VR environment. Also, in an neighborhood that is as diverse as Cupertino, VR reduces the wordiness of certain concepts and allows English as Second Language (ESL) learners to approach concepts for which they may have the maturity but not the language.
Once again, a big thank you to Lawson Middle School and the wonderful people there who stopped by and made this possible! We’re looking forward to making our final push within the next two weeks.
— Sophie
