Bias busters

Inspiration

What it does

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for Bias busters

Inspiration

We were inspired by research showing that biased thinking patterns begin forming early in education, often before students have the skills to question stereotypes or unfair assumptions. Many efforts to address bias happen later in life, rather than during early learning when these patterns first develop. The hackathon theme of noise and silence pushed us to think about how bias spreads through stereotypes and misinformation (noise) and persists when unfairness goes unchallenged (silence). We wanted to explore how early, interactive learning could help address this.

What it does

Bias Busters is an educational game that helps students identify and challenge biased thinking. Players are presented with scenarios, choices, and questions based on everyday situations, and they must decide how to respond. Through gameplay, users learn to recognize stereotypes, question unfair assumptions, and understand the impact of bias. The game encourages active thinking rather than passive learning, helping players practice speaking up instead of staying silent when they encounter unfairness.

How we built it

we used python and streamlit

Challenges we ran into

During the project, we faced challenges mainly with displaying images in Streamlit. Integrating the backgrounds to make the game visually engaging took more time than expected.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

For a beginner track project, we’re proud that we built a fully working interactive game. We were able to take a complex topic systemic bias and turn it into a fun, accessible, and age-appropriate game.

What we learned

We learned a lot about problem-solving, teamwork, and iterating on ideas, which helped us turn our concept into a playable demo. We learned to transition quickly and adapt whenever plans or ideas changed, which helped us stay flexible and make progress throughout the hackathon.

What's next for Bias busters

In the future, Bias Busters could be expanded with more scenarios, age-specific content, and additional visual elements. It could also be adapted for classroom use, educator training, or community programs to help students develop bias awareness from an early age. We hope to continue improving the game and making it more accessible for different learners and learning environments.