The Center for Radical Innovation for Social Change
The Center for Radical Innovation for Social Change (RISC) at the University of Chicago is an innovation lab for social change. RISC is the brainchild of Steven Levitt, Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and co-author of Freakonomics.
RISC investigates today’s social issues by combining unconventional perspectives with empirical data, generating radical solutions with real-world relevance. They test and scale those solutions through a mix of partnerships with academics, nonprofits, government agencies, international organizations, and private corporations.
The Need
RISC has been a tremendous leader in finding unorthodox and innovative solutions to social challenges. Leveraging the Freakonomics brand, RISC aimed to replicate this success with an online game for kids.
RISC recognized a need to facilitate access to learning for marginalized groups, those not already on the STEM track, and students who haven’t already self-selected out of STEM yet. Motivated by disparities of access to engaging learning around data science, the team at RISC found that gaps in today’s learning often cause a lack of interest in subjects like data science. Their solution aimed to address this challenge by engaging students with relevant examples of data science in their everyday lives to generate interest and excitement about the topic.
After hearing a podcast in which the initiative was discussed, Ben reached out to RISC to offer Enable’s services: ‘I reached out on the ‘contact us’ form and was amazed when they got back to me. Those things never work!’
As part of our social impact initiatives, Enable Education looks for opportunities to collaborate on socially focused projects that train and educate an organization’s stakeholders or community. Enable was drawn to this project as it aligns perfectly with our mission of ‘Revolutionizing Education’.
The Challenge
RISC’s vision was to take a complex topic – Data Science – that is inherently concept-and-content heavy, and teach it to kids in Grades 4 – 6. They knew the learning experience would have to be fun, engaging, something the players recognized, and that would get children excited about data science. They envisioned a game that would blow students away and leave them wanting to learn more about data science. The game would provide a starting point for children to have conversations with their parents about the topic, and stimulate further, self-guided learning.
The Solution
The team at RISC collaborated closely with Enable’s learning experience designers, game developers, and UI/UX team on an initiative that was both creative and technical.
In order to achieve RISC’s goals, Enable built a game that:
- engages students in grades 4 – 6 with a sophisticated experience
- motivates a deeper dive into data science
- lowers learning barriers in data science without oversimplifying key concepts
- engages learners who have no existing interest in data science
- is capable of self-direction, making it a highly useful tool for classrooms with students with all variety of learning rates
- provides a starting point for teachers to dive into concepts like algorithms and how data is used to make predictions about preferences
The Outcome
Enable and RISC worked closely to create a fun, interactive, incremental game called Algo-Rhythm. Algo-Rhythm encourages kids to examine data from some of their favourite songs to develop different types of playlists. Children play the DJ, selecting music based on data provided and not just their intuition.
Players are given specific criteria that their song choice must meet, such as danceability and energy. To score points, players must read the criteria provided and select songs that match them. The game is easy to pick up, and drag and drop gameplay ensures that all students can play and learn, by themselves or with a partner.
Each learning experience is incorporated into the storyline and players have to respond to more challenging requests as they advance to acquire points.
The game uses real music that the players (and their parents!) recognize, and it also includes unfamiliar tunes they’ll really have to think about when they’re listening.
This fun, engaging, energetic game can be worked into lesson plans by teachers, and enjoyed by kids outside of school. If you’d like to try the game, you can play it here for free!
If you’d like to chat about learning experience design, gamification, or how Enable can help you begin your organization’s learning journey, schedule a call with one of our team.
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