Magrid

40% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to education in a language they understand (UNESCO). Furthermore, 15% of children have a language disorder and 5% are deaf or hearing impaired. This language barrier also affects learning not directly related to language such as math, leading to a lack of good math skills and numeracy development. As a result, over 320 million children around the world have an educational disadvantage, which has a lasting impact on learning and participation into adulthood (UNESCO).

Through our early childhood development research conducted at the University of Luxembourg, we noted that removing the cognitive load of language as a barrier in foundational math learning led to a significant improvement in math proficiency in children both familiar and unfamiliar with the language of instruction and also for children with special education needs. 6 studies in Luxembourg, Germany, and France in over 30 classes with over 1,000 students showed a significant improvement in math performance in children with different learning profiles. 

Thus Magrid was born. Magrid is a 100% visual-based and language-free pedagogical program to significantly improve the development of early visual-spatial, cognitive and mathematical abilities for 3-9-year old children, including those with special education needs. Magrid is curriculum aligned and designed to help teachers improve learning outcomes while decreasing teacher workload.

After using Magrid, children were able to transfer language free digital learning onto paper-based language-dependent assessments, demonstrating a significant improvement in math performance.

Magrid is used online (wifi/internet connection) or offline (data stored in the app) on a digital tablet device and can be downloaded from the Apple, Android, or Microsoft app stores. 

A full-two year program of lessons are delivered in stages to first build visual-spatial and cognitive and then math abilities. Each lesson is delivered visually without any language and then children get access to over 2,500 activities to practice and demonstrate what they have learned. Children use their fingers (important for tactile learning) for practice activities. 

Magrid began with the goal to solve the problem children with migratory backgrounds face in Luxembourg's public schools, where over 60% have a migratory background. These children were falling behind in non-language dependent classes such as math and the learning gap was increasing. After testing various hypotheses, we noted that removing language as a barrier to learning had the most significant improvement in performance. This was repeated in studies in Germany and France with children with more diverse backgrounds. We noted significant improvements for children:

- On the autism spectrum
- Suspected with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia
- With hearing difficulties
- With migratory background (second-language learners)
- With language related disorders
- Who are not proficient in the language of instruction

Recently, a mother in Brazil started using Magrid for her young son who has down-syndrome and we hope to further study how Magrid can help even more children.

My background is in computer science and I wanted to do something socially impactful and that is why I went on to get my Ph.D. in Psychology, where I can use my skills and knowledge in both sciences to make a positive impact on the world. I am originally from Iran and immigrated to Luxembourg. Most of my work colleagues also have migratory backgrounds from Brazil, Iran, India, and Egypt. Furthermore, most of us have a family member or children who have a language disorder, ADD, on the autism spectrum, or atypical visual-spatial disorders. You can say Magrid is personally important to us and we recognize that there are millions of children who could really use the extra help to have an equitable opportunity to learn. 

To understand the needs of the children we serve, we rely on science and the scientific method - it is one of our core beliefs. Magrid has been scientifically validated and the science continues as we partner with Universities in France and the US to replicate and expand the studies, as we partner with parents with children who have down syndrome, as we solicit feedback from SEN teachers. 

We recently started a pilot with 5 schools in Portugal with a mix of typical and SEN students who  are deaf, on the autism spectrum, and have language disorders. We meet every month with the teachers to get their feedback to understand what is working and what isn't and how we can better help serve the needs of children. Regular feedback sessions and teacher training are critical to our mission to help every child learn.

We are applying to Solve to leap over market barriers. There are over 80,000 edtech apps, very few are tested and barely any are scientifically validated. Those that are validated are limited to correlation studies and are designed for gamification - to increase screen time. Solutions that are focused on helping children not familiar with the language of instruction or for SEN children are almost non-existent. We are not saying our solution is perfect but we are saying that our solution has been scientifically validated and only through further testing around the world can the impact truly be felt. 

How does a community, a school, or an organization even hear about solutions that may actually help children in a meaningful way? That is why we are applying to Solver - to get Magrid in the hands of millions of children who need that extra help to get a sound foundation in math and STEM. We are applying to Solver to open doors for us globally for organizations to try our solution to see if it can help them or not. 

From our research and understanding of the edtech market, what makes Magrid innovative and significantly 

- Fully visual and language independent 

- Fun and engaging but focused to minimize screen time

- Sensory friendly

- Pedagogical program that is scientifically validated to significantly improve (up to 70%*) math learning and performance

*Please refer to the scientific articles published in regards to exact criteria for performance improvement

- A full 2-year program designed to complement teacher's curriculum - to help them teach more effectively and reduce their workload

- Helps 3-6 year old typical children and 3-9 year old SEN children (has also been used for children as old as 12 who are on the autism spectrum, but has not been scientifically validated yet)

- Dedicated and continuous teacher support, including training on the science

- Focuses on developing visual-spatial and cognitive abilities before introducing math concepts. The roadmap builds upon each lesson to ensure deep learning

- Can be used online with wifi or internet access or without a connection in rural and remote places

If you google learning and language you will see clear messages that one cannot learn without language. Evidence, in this case, suggests otherwise - that language can actually be a barrier to learning under certain conditions - foundational math being one of them. We believe that this new approach can be a catalyst for other learning innovations.

Furthermore, language-free enables our solution to be used anywhere around the world.

We estimate 320 million children around the world are left behind but need an equitable solution to learn. Our mission is to give every child an equal opportunity to learn and our goal in the next 5 years is to give at least 10% of them access to Magrid.

We just started a pilot in Portugal, where similar to everywhere around the world, they have a teacher shortage. Our goal in the next year is to make Magrid accessible to 25% of schools in Portugal.

Upon winning the UN affiliated WSA award in Learning and Education we adopted the UN SDG goal 4 of Quality Education. We measure our success through scientifically validated results of the number of children whose math performance improves. To date we have over 10,000 students using Magrid in Luxembourg, France, and Portugal, a significant number of whom have special education needs. We have applied for funding from Luxembourg to further test the impact of Magrid on specialized language and other disorders. We are also collaborating and have applied for funding with a US University researcher who specializes in early childhood development to test and study the impact of Magrid with children in the US whose primary language is Spanish.

Magrid was developed to address the problem of inequity in education, specifically the delivery of math instruction in an equitable way and the problem of inconsistent learning opportunities. 3-9 year-old children with migratory backgrounds in Luxembourg and in the European Union who did not speak the instructional  language fall behind in math, visual-spatial development, and cognitive abilities compared to their peers who speak the instructional language. In addition to the language barrier, an Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) 2018 study, identified three challenges children with migratory backgrounds face that lead to inequity in learning: a) adapting to new rules and acculturation stressors, b) inadequate education policies on integration, inclusion, and equity, and c) lack of diversity training by teachers.  

We started by questioning the existing assumptions and tested several hypotheses before testing the hypothesis of language as a barrier to learning. Scientific studies validating the results can be found at:

Cornu, V., Schiltz, C., Pazouki, T., & Martin, R. (2019). Training early visuo-spatial abilities: A controlled classroom-based intervention study. Applied developmental science, 23(1), 1-21.

Pazouki, T., Cornu, V., Sonnleitner, P., Schiltz, C., Fischbach, A., & Martin, R. (2018). MaGrid: a language-neutral early mathematical training and learning application. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 13(08), 4-18.

Cornu, V., Pazouki, T., Schiltz, C., Fischbach, A., & Martin, R. (2018). Overcoming language barriers in early mathematics instruction with “MaGrid”-a language-neutral training tool for multilingual school settings.

Pazouki, T., Cornu, V., & Martin, R. (2016, June). Visual Spatial Math Training Tool: An iPad Application for Training Visual-Spatial Abilities in Preschoolers. In EdMedia+ Innovate Learning (pp. 1594-1602). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

Jung, S., Meinhardt, A., Braeuning, D., Roesch, S., Cornu, V., Pazouki, T., … & Moeller, K. (2020). Hierarchical Development of Early Visual-Spatial Abilities–A Taxonomy Based Assessment Using the MaGrid App. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.

Magrid is delivered through an application on Apple, Android, and Microsoft windows platforms. Because the entire program is language-independent and meant to be used by young children (3-9) and teachers around the world with varying degrees of tech knowledge, the app is clear, simple, and intuitive. The program is meant to be used on tablet devices as tactile learning (using fingers to manipulate shapes and images and to count) is a critical element of learning. 

Our current roadmap includes:

- A full digitization effort to remove the use of any paper-based materials that go along with the digital program (3 months)

- Teacher dashboards to show progress and gauge learning outcomes (6 months)

- AI to gauge adaptive learning (15-18 months)

- VR for 3-D learning (24-36 months)

Diversity in all of its forms is critical to our organization and reflects our core belief of equity for all. We have team members who are from Brazil, Egypt, Iran, India, US, Luxembourg who are single, married, LGBTQ and who live in Luxembourg, Portugal, US, and Estonia. Our goal is to have diverse local team members in every country we have a footprint.

Our model is to provide access to Magrid directly to schools and to global non-profit organizations to make it available to children who need it the most. Our market segmentation is Special Education Needs.

We have one product today - Magrid, which is delivered digitally through an app on tablet devices. We see ourselves as the edtech company designed for children - to ensure deep learning, and for teachers - to make their teaching efforts more effective and to reduce their workload as opposed to meeting test scores requirements. 

Our commitment to our stakeholders is:

- A science and research-validated innovative digital solution that can be used in big cities or rural areas

- No advertisements or gimmicks ever

- User feedback for continuous improvement through periodic online meetings

- Dedicated ongoing training and support with an educator community delivered online or via live webinars

- Transparency to partners and stakeholders

- Partner with companies who can provide tablets to schools and organizations

- Invest profits back into research into expand product offering and build new impactful products

We are a socially driven for-profit business but our goal is to create a sustainable business that leaves a positive impact on the world. We are for profit as we don't want to rely on funding cycles but we are socially driven as we don't want to measure our success by how much revenue we make or how much expenses we cut but rather by the number of children we help. We are a startup that has been operating to date by being bootstrapped, with part-time employees working voluntarily without pay or a couple with minimal pay. We have received some funding through Luxembourg's accelerator program and through a Social Innovation Award we won. 

Our goal is to become financial sustainable by selling our product to schools and countries that can afford our program and to give our program at cost to schools and countries that cannot. Additionally, we seek partnerships with global NGO's to fund our giving campaigns. We are also very careful about whom we would take investment funds from as we don't want to be beholden to an exit plan that looks to maximize profits over social impact.

Magrid licenses for all public schools has been acquired by the Ministry of Education of Luxembourg for a period of 5 years as part of the initial testing. 

We have sold licenses to 5 schools in Portugal starting earlier this year for a pilot. 

We have received funds of about 170k EUR from the Luxembourg Accelerator and from the EIB SIT Award we won. Since we only started commercialization efforts this year we are in the process of building a sales funnel and our success is dependent on it.