Personal Project - 2024
4 Months
Spatial Interaction Design
Project Summary
Personal Project — CalCurious transforms the simple act of bowling into an intuitive gateway for understanding calculus. Through mixed reality, users witness mathematical concepts come alive as they roll a bowling ball down the lane. CalCurious makes abstract calculus concepts feel as natural as playing a game, creating an embodied learning experience that bridges the gap between physical action and mathematical understanding.
Details
6 weeks
Beyond the Digital
In an era where educational technology often prioritizes digitization over human experience, CalCurious explores a fundamental question: How might we use emerging technologies to enhance, rather than replace, our natural ways of learning? This project investigates the potential of Extended Reality (XR) to create learning experiences that feel human, intuitive, and embodied, using calculus education as a lens to understand broader implications for educational technology.
The Context - Loss of Kinesthetic Learning
The rigid, exam-centric education system in India stifles students' creativity and does not adequately accommodate diverse learning styles. With the rapid integration of digital tools in education, traditional learning approaches often prioritize rote memorization over experiential and kinesthetic understanding.
Current educational technology often creates a disconnect between physical and digital learning experiences. Students, especially in higher grades, lose touch with kinesthetic learning as they progress through increasingly abstract subjects. This project recognizes that the solution isn't simply to digitize existing teaching methods, but to fundamentally rethink how technology can support natural learning processes.
As a Human Centred Designer, I made sure to put the user first, iterate rapidly and ensured that stakeholder needs are taken care of. I followed the Double Diamond process throughout designing user experiences for Extended Reality.
1
Field Research
Visited multiple schools including 10x International and Poorna Learning Centre to understand how students engage with mathematics. Observed classroom dynamics, teaching methods, and student interaction patterns, revealing a significant decline in kinesthetic learning opportunities in higher grades.
2
Secondary Research
Conducted in-depth interviews with students, movement practitioners, mathematics teachers, and XR developers. These conversations revealed crucial insights about embodied learning, the challenges of teaching calculus, and the potential of mixed reality in education. Special focus on how dance pedagogy principles could inform mathematical understanding.
3
Co-creating with Practitioners
Collaborated with practitioners to develop interaction mechanisms that feel natural and intuitive. Workshopped ideas for translating physical movements into mathematical understanding, resulting in the development of gesture-based interactions for manipulating graphs and understanding calculus concepts.
4
Prototyping & Testing
Prototyped and tested multiple iterations of the experience, using the ARCS framework (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) for evaluation. Conducted user testing with 6 participants, including students and teachers, gathering feedback on gesture controls, visual feedback, and learning effectiveness. Each iteration refined the balance between engaging interaction and educational value.
Kinesthetic learning—where movement and physical activity are incorporated into the learning process—has been shown to improve cognitive function, retention, and engagement, particularly among adolescents. Kinesthetic learning offers to offset the shortcomings of traditional educational models that often overlook the unique learning styles of students.
Kinesthetic activities tap into what Piaget termed “sensorimotor learning,” in which physical participation transfers into mental symbols representing that experience (Hergenhahn and Olson, 1997). Kinesthetic learning activities can also engage other important learning styles, such as Felder and Silverman’s active, sensing, intuitive, visual, or global learners (Felder and Silverman, 1988). These benefits are said to raise the level of students’ engagement during the learning periods instead of having to endure long series of lectures.” (Noridah Binti Sain, 2007).
What tools and methods are currently being used to teach in classrooms?
What time, resource, or curriculum constraints limit experiential learning?
Do students engage more effectively when movement is part of the learning process?
Research Methods
1
Shadowing
2
Interviews
3
Contextual Inquiry
4
Field Study
Insights from Primary Research
I visited a variety of schools on various ends of the spectrum, including a high-end IB school and an alternate learning school. I further categorised the insights into those from teachers, students and movement practitioners (whom I interviewed separately).
1
Time Constraints
Teachers struggle with tight schedules, prioritizing syllabus completion over exploratory activities.
Opportunity: Design tools that integrate easily into lesson plans and promote self-aided learning.
2
Engagement Challenges
Traditional methods fail to captivate older students who are preoccupied with exams and careers.
Opportunity: Create intuitive and contextual experiences that make abstract concepts relatable and exciting.
3
Increase in Subject Complexity
Subjects like Maths feel disconnected and intimidating to students, reducing their interest.
Opportunity: Use embodied and movement-based experiences to simplify and visualize abstract ideas.
4
Students Crave Active Learning
Contrary to assumptions students want to engage actively rather than passively consuming information.
Opportunity: Incorporate multi-user, collaborative activities to foster engagement and peer learning.
5
The Role of the Physical
Movement practitioners emphasize the critical role of physical activity in building cognitive and conceptual understanding.
Opportunity: Identify tools and interactions that allow learners to use their bodies to explore and internalize concepts.
What Interviewees said…
Personas from Interviews
As part of the human-centered design process, developing personas was crucial to understanding the diverse needs, challenges, and aspirations of the key stakeholders in the education ecosystem. The personas were crafted based on insights from primary research, including interviews and observations, ensuring they represented real-world users.
How might we encourage kinesthetic learning and transform abstract concepts into tangible, engaging experiences that seamlessly fit inton workflows while fostering active participation and understanding for students?
SECONDARY RESEARCH
XR as the missing link…
Through my secondary research I dove deeper into the theory of 'Embodied Cognition' and potential mechanisms that could help encourage kinaesthetic learning among students.
I found that Extended Reality (XR) has the potential to bridge the gap between abstract, theory-heavy learning and the natural, movement-driven ways humans are wired to learn. By combining immersive visuals, real-time feedback, and interactive spatial experiences, XR offers a medium where students can engage with complex concepts in intuitive and embodied ways.
Opportunities with XR
1
Encouraging Kinaesthetic Engagement
Unlike traditional digital tools that rely on screens and clicks, XR incorporates movement and gestures, aligning with the principles of embodied cognition. This encourages active participation and deeper understanding.
2
Contextual Personalised Exploration
With adaptive capabilities, XR can cater to individual learning styles and paces, offering tailored experiences that address students’ unique needs and keeping them motivated and engaged. This ensures that everyone explores at their own pace.
3
Collaboration
XR allows creating immersive, multi-user environments where students can work together to solve problems, engage in simulations, or explore virtual worlds, enhancing teamwork and communication skills alongside subject knowledge.
How might we humanise and determine the potential for Extended Reality in Education?
TARGET AUDIENCE
Secondary Students (9-12)
High school is a preparatory phase for higher education and professional life. Building strong, intuitive foundations can empower students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed for their future.
This generation is already immersed in technology, making XR a natural extension of their learning environment. However, the overuse of passive digital tools calls for experiences that are active, engaging, and human-centered.
BENCHMARKING
How is XR used in Education currently?
High school is a preparatory phase for higher education and professional life. Building strong, intuitive foundations can empower students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed for their future.
This generation is already immersed in technology, making XR a natural extension of their learning environment. However, the overuse of passive digital tools calls for experiences that are active, engaging, and human-centered.
Curiosity XR
EON Reality
DEFINING THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
Problem Statement
There is a lack of XR learning tools that:
Prioritize user-centered design,
Offer meaningful onboarding, and
Leverage movement and embodiment as core learning methods.
How might we design an XR platform that brings kinesthetic learning to the forefront—using movement, spatial metaphors, and intuitive onboarding—to help high schoolers deeply understand subjects like calculus?
IDEATING
Calculus - The Monster
After exploring the potential of XR to create immersive, kinesthetic learning experiences, the choice to focus on mathematics became clear. Math, often perceived as abstract and disconnected from everyday life, is a subject where students frequently struggle to grasp complex concepts without a tangible connection. Traditional methods of teaching math rely heavily on rote memorization and symbolic representation, leaving little room for experiential learning. However, mathematics, especially at advanced levels like calculus, is inherently spatial and dynamic, involving patterns, curves, and motion that align perfectly with XR's ability to make the abstract physical.
I ideated through storboarding, bodystorming and conducting workshops.
Below are some images I documented.
Idea Themes
1
Viewing Surroundings Through the Lens of Curves
Students explore their surroundings with the help of AR, viewing real-world objects through the lens of curves. They can pick a curve in their environment and identify its mathematical properties, bridging abstract mathematical concepts with everyday experiences.
1
Real-Time Feedback and Visualizations
While solving calculus problems in their books, students receive AI-driven real-time feedback and visualizations. As they work through differentiation or integration problems, they see visual cues and overlays that help them understand what they are doing right or wrong, reinforcing the learning process immediately.
1
History and Context-Based Introduction
This mechanism introduces students to the origins of calculus by taking them through why it was developed and how it fits into larger historical and scientific contexts. Understanding the "why" behind calculus allows students to grasp its relevance before diving into abstract concepts.
1
Rope Manipulation with AI Overlays
Students physically manipulate a real rope, and through AI overlays and projections, they observe how curves form and change. This kinesthetic experience helps them understand curve properties such as slope and inflection points in an intuitive, embodied way.
1
Immersive Walkable Graph
In an immersive virtual environment, students can physically walk along a large-sized graph projected onto the floor. As they move along curves, the system highlights important features like areas under curves (for integration) or slope changes (for differentiation). This allows students to engage kinesthetically, ‘feel’ the calculus concepts.
PRACTITIONER FEEDBACK 1
Full Case Study Coming Soon…
Guidelines to creating a kinesthetic XR experience…
I genuinely wish this approach had been available when we were learning these topics—it would have made the process so much more comprehensive and enjoyable!
-High School Graduate