Mango Learning, the brainchild of Prakash Ahuja and Kevin Howell, has launched a crowd funding campaign through Kickstarter to support development of their game-based learning programs. It’s an ambitious educational game development venture that blends Western- and Eastern-teaching philosophies, leverages the engaging nature of games, and delivers a math learning solution across mobile devices. Just this year it began developing game-based educational programs geared toward children ages 6 to 12 with the support of leading online gaming industry developers and education experts. Together, they are creating the most interactive, engaging learning programs available for mobile learning platforms today.
“As we continue to expand our development efforts we wanted to offer the public an opportunity to support and join us through our Kickstarter campaign. We have vast and highly credible experience creating successful online consumer games such as Gardens of Time (17 million active monthly users) and Top Gun, among others. Now, we are focusing our expertise, with guidance from top education experts including Bob Collins, a 30 year public school administrator and formerly a director for the Los Angeles Unified School District, to create learning programs expressly for the mobile computing platform.” commented Prakash Ahuja, Mango Learning Advisor and CEO of Gameshastra, India’s largest game services company
Rather than just moving textbooks onto mobile devices, Mango Learning (http://www.mangolearning.com/) has tapped into the digital native’s desire to “play” while learning. The mechanics of games make them the perfect platform for translating learning content through engaging graphics, personalized interfaces, adaptive assessments and reward levels. Beyond their ability to engage students in learning, games have the power to require that students move beyond proficiency, towards mastery of core concepts, before they can advance to the next topic. Mango Learning’s design creates a mobile device-based environment, based on the U.S. Common Core and International standards, where a student’s interaction with engaging content drives towards mastery of the underlying education concepts, rather than rote memorization.
As proof of concept, Mango Learning has developed a few games based on a highly motivating, middle school math, game-based curriculum. The games leverage the fact that in gaming, the child is required to take multiple perspectives to find alternative ways of stating a mathematical problem and finding a solution. This creates a try to miss, try, and try again environment that children thrive on and learn from naturally. Here are some clips from the games –
The blueprint for each math module includes:
- A Tutorial incorporating both eastern & western teaching methods, where the child learns from relatable teacher avatars.
- A Diagnostic Test that reads the student’s knowledge, and sets the questions accordingly.
- Three to four games which allow kids to prevent space invasions, slice and share pizzas, or interact in other ways with a virtual world…while learning.
- A Post-Test which confirms whether the child has gone beyond grasping the concepts, to mastering them.
Everyone can enjoy a comprehensive video, become a Mango Learning supporter and help expand and accelerate the program development plans at Kickstrarter. Mango Learning backers earn various levels of rewards for contributing to the campaign including free downloads, beta test access, preloaded tablets, and even the chance to design an in-game character. The goal of the campaign is to raise $100,000, which will be used to complete the first phase of game development.
Support the campaign – Kickstrarter