Knowre

Adaptive math program assesses strengths and weaknesses and personalizes the curriculum

Overview

KnowRe is an adaptive learning mathematics tool that combines interactive gaming with assessment and personalized curriculum.

The KnowRe project began in 2008 as a math academy in Seoul, South Korea. It was designed to tackle the issue of varying gaps in individual students' knowledge of math – in other words, some students may know some math concepts but lack understanding of others. 

The academy has since taught more than 3,500 students. It developed adaptive technology that walks students through solving math problems and redirects them if they do not have mastery of different math concepts. The beta product was slated to be released, chapter by chapter, during the summer of 2013.

When a student logs onto KnowRe, he or she encounters an “empire” user interface, similar to the likes of games like World of Warcraft and Civilization. The various areas of the empire represent individual math concepts (or “Knowledge Units”), which are broken down by math Common Core standard on the left side of the screen. Upon clicking on each Unit, the student is given a problem to solve. At this point, KnowRe’s adaptive gaming features kick in. If a student is unable to solve a problem, he or she is presented with the option of seeing a walkthrough of the steps involved. Meanwhile, KnowRe tracks the number of tries and incorrect responses that the student makes, funneling it into an algorithm that later generates recommendations for curriculum materials that the student can use for review.

A teacher dashboard is currently being piloted and will be available by the end of summer 2013. The dashboard will be a full Learning Management System where teachers can both view comprehensive reports on each individual student’s progress, and track the overall progress of a full class. Based on this information, the teacher will be able to assign individual homework tailored to each student’s needs.

KnowRe was selected as the "best instructional product" in the New York City Gap App Challenge.