A+ Fighter

Gamification of K-12 education with a online battle system to challenge your friends.

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Inspiration

  1. My sister Amily is a middle school student. She is a good student, but she hates reading books. "Game is more charming than studying", she sometimes complains, "I hope to get high scores, so I have to work hard. But...How great it would be if I can play video games with classmates, while still getting a high score on my test!" Why not? -- Last week, when she was complaining again, that idea hit my head: Why not! Why not make an educational mobile game? My first thought was similar to Habitatics - more like a todo list, that children's avatars and weapons would get upgraded when they finished their tasks. After talking with Jump and Tony in a Friday party, we got a more exciting idea: Still make it an educational mobile game, while we should add element of "online battle" to it. Online battle system and reputation system, if well designed, can considerably encourage K-12 children, like Amily, to use it for an interesting way to learn, and to practice exam questions. Jump, Tony and I were all enthusiastic about the idea. We formed a team quickly and started to contribute to this project. A+ Fighter was born in this context. - Min Chen

  2. I recently read an article: some kids, while playing a game, were able to solve a protein folding problem that had been puzzling scientists for years. That research shows that gaming is one way for children to concentrate, and improve problem-solving skills. When I heard about this hackathon, I knew I wanted to do something similar to the protein folding game. One of our team member, Min, proposed to make an app to keep track of personal goals such as losing weight or getting a good grade. I thought about her idea and it came to me what if people could challenge each other to improve. A game-education app might create a chance for students who did not study well, to restart, and keep interested in learning. That is how A+Fighter was born. - Tony Trieu

  3. I got the Fulbright Scholarship from Thailand to further my study in Computer Science and Educational Technology. In my country, Thailand, one of the most critical issues is education. I like cooking, and I want to be a chef, but education comes first. "I want education to be a fundamental right". - Thanawut Ananpiriyakul (Jump)

What it does

A+ Fighter is an educational mobile application that helps students in three aspects:

  • Provides a lot of practice exams. And we made it a game, so, students can have fun while they study.
  • Tracks student's progress. We provide summarized information for parents and schools. We want this to help in planning both for individual and group study.
  • Comes with career path advice. The more the student uses the app, the more effective it is. This app will records all practice test scores in 5 areas: Mathematics, Science, Art, Social Study and English. With this information, we can suggest career path for student.
  • Supports competitive and active learning by allowing students to challenge their friends.

How I built it

We used Android Studio platform and royalty free assets.

Challenges I ran into

  • Game development was totally new to our team.
  • Whole team started with zero mobile development experience.
  • Deciding what app features to prioritize.
  • Rushing against the clock.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  • Make a working Android application. -Thanawut Ananpiriyakul (Jump)
  • Jumping in to and trying my best to learn a new platform. -Tony
  • Design UI with raw free royalty elements, using Gimp. This is my first time to be a designer. I really learnt a lot! - Min Chen

What I learned

  • Some basics of Android development. -Tony
  • How to work in a team, and quickly trying to pick up something new. -Thanawut Ananpiriyakul (Jump)
  • Getting new skills in Gimp and Adobe designing tools. - Min Chen

What's next for A+ Fighter

  • Getting it to the kids!
  • Get schools interested in getting A+ Fighter into their curriculum, by showing that it improves student learning and the school's retention rate.
  • Get feedback from parents. And have them assist introducing the app to their kids.
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