SplashLearn is a game-based learning program that intelligently adapts to each child’s skill level and helps them master appropriate skills for Math and Reading at their own pace. Covering pre-kindergarten through grade 5 for math and pre-kindergarten through grade 2 for reading, it has over 4,000 Math and Reading curriculum-aligned lessons and games. The game-based format helps children get over learning-related anxiety because they don't even realize they're learning! It reinforces key skills with an interactive, self-paced, and adaptive format. SplashLearn has a vast library of games for different topics, visual models, virtual manipulatives, and voice narration to make learning easy and exciting - even for kids who are still learning to read.
SplashLearn strives to make learning more discovery-oriented so that learning comes naturally to children. The games within the program aim to shift the current narrative around learning that it is tedious or boring to making it enjoyable, fun, and rewarding for every child.
It is currently used in 150+ countries and has benefitted more than 30 million children around the world. SplashLearn is available across all digital platforms (iOS, Desktop, Android). The program can also be used without an internet connection, so the learning never stops!
Formats/platforms used:
SplashLearn is available across iOS, Android, and Web
Primary URL:
Problem solved:
- Helping children overcome learning anxiety
- Problem: Kids start thinking they’re not a “math person” or that science is not for them. This happens due to a lack of confidence and eventually leads to learning anxiety.
- Solution: SplashLearn’s program is built to boost each learner’s confidence by challenging them based on their skill level, creating a fun game-based learning environment that encourages the child at each step.
- Lack of individualized attention in class
- Problem: With about 15 students in each classroom, the teacher does not have enough resources to focus on each child despite their best efforts.
- Solution: Giving each teacher the power to provide individualized attention to each student and tailor the lessons according to their ability/pace.
- Unproductive screen time
- Problem: Children love touch devices. They spend a lot of time playing games, watching videos which leads to little learning. Currently available educational resources like worksheets and videos are not engaging enough for kids to match the entertainment available to them.
- Solution: Making children's screen time productive with a game-based learning curriculum that is engaging as well as provides clear learning outcomes.
- Making homework fun for kids
- Problem: Kids have high resistance to homework because it feels like heavy work. Teachers have to assign and evaluate homework which eats up their time.
- Solution: We make assigning and evaluating homework super easy for teachers and fun for children. It becomes an engaging experience, rather than a one-sided one.
- Making learning a habit
- Problem: Education hasn't caught up with technology as entertainment has. Kids associate fun with screen time, while learning is associated with boring books.
- Solution: We give students a fun, customized education on a medium they love. While parents get the benefit of combining screen time with something that's productive.
Grade/age range:
Pre-kindergarten through grade 5, ages 4–11
Core or supplemental:
SplashLearn is a supplemental curriculum offering for Teachers and Parents.
Standards:
SplashLearn is aligned to Common Core State Standards and it covers 4,000+ Maths and Reading through fun games and worksheets. Math is available for children from PreK to grade 5 and Reading is available for PreK to grade 2.
Lesson time needed:
The program recommends 20 minutes of usage per day, and the product is also structured like that, so you get a daily recommendation that typically will be over in 15 to 20 minutes.
Pricing models:
SplashLearn is free for teachers and schools to use. Teachers can sign in and create an account for their class. Teachers get access to the full SplashLearn content library and can assign classwork and also homework that the students can access at home. A detailed teacher dashboard also allows them to track each student’s progress and address any learning gaps.
SplashLearn is subscription-based for Parents. The cost varies - as the subscription can range from $7.99 to $11.99 per month depending on the plan the parents choose. There’s also a family plan that allows access for 3 children. Parents also get access to the parent dashboard and parent app that gives them regular reports on their child’s progress.
What makes SplashLearn unique?
A unique and tailored approach: Each child is unique, why should the way they learn be the same as everyone else? SplashLearn does not believe in a ‘one size fits all approach’. Based on a well-researched curriculum and an intelligent, adaptive algorithm, the program offers each child a personalized learning experience that caters to their unique needs and goals.
Research-driven to deliver more: SplashLearn likes to stay on top of global curricula and pull from scientifically proven learning methods to go beyond the expected. At a basic level, the program enables gradual learning at every step with a strong focus on building conceptual understanding and critical thinking skills.
Positive change that's future-ready: In a constantly changing world, SplashLearn challenges children using the program to push boundaries because that’s what makes a learner future-ready. The big focus is to inculcate a habit of life-long learning in children.
Characteristics:
The SplashLearn Application focuses on a game-based learning environment. The hypothesis is that knowledge transference and conceptual understanding are heightened through play in interactive systems, that are built in adherence to fundamental academic concepts. Here, instructional design is informed by the following:
- The academic concepts are provided in two formats - quiz mode and game mode. Having learned the concepts by allowing for play and experimentation in the game mode, the children relate and apply what was learned to perform better in the quiz mode.
- The game mode is in fact an interactive system in a fictional setting. Each system contains a number of levels that correspond to an increase in difficulty hence paving the way for building upon fundamental knowledge in a step-by-step manner.
- The level design of the games also ensures that what is learned in earlier levels gets used as a prerequisite for playing the later levels. Hence ensuring retention of concepts.
- Byte sized learning is facilitated so as to not overwhelm the children. This also speeds up learning and helps build a long term habit.
- Spaced repetition of the learned concepts under new fictional settings helps the child ingrain what is learned into long term memory.
- The provision of an adaptive learning plan ensures that the kids get content that is constantly calibrated to their skill level.
Learning in SplashLearn occurs through play as kids dive into a magnificent world called Splashverse! Here the kids get to explore exotic locations, meet numerous characters, help them on challenging quests and exciting adventures, all the while getting to complete their daily learning goals.
SplashLearn is currently divided into two major worlds: the Math World and the Reading World. Within each world, the kids will find numerous mini-worlds based on the topics they choose to learn. Each mini-world is designed to subconsciously reinforce the fundamentals of the corresponding topic. While the characters are created to establish conceptual context and allow for conflicts in the stories, leading to puzzles and play.
For example, one of the kids’ favorite characters, the Oolzoo is designed to hold numbers on its chest. Multiple Oolzoos can be combined or separated to form bigger or smaller Oolzoos thereby replicating addition and subtraction scenarios. What the Oolzoos are for the Math world, the Buc-Bucs are for the Reading world. The Buc-Bucs are curious creatures who relentlessly search for letters and sounds in their surroundings; capable of making the sounds of the letters that they collect.
SplashLearn loves picking up new topics and ideating on ways to manifest the academic concepts into game systems with locations and characters that serve the purpose of explaining the concepts better. Hence Splashverse is ever-evolving, and learning at SplashLearn is a never-ending adventure.
Here’s what users are saying:
"Using SplashLearn was a wonderful asset to my instructional strategies during the 2019-2020 school year. In March when we were thrown for a loop and transitioned to remote learning because of the pandemic, I needed a way to help my students retain what they'd learned, as well as reinforce the new concepts that we were teaching virtually. A colleague introduced me to SplashLearn shortly after we were sent home. My students loved it, and so did my co-teacher and I. There was something for students at every level--those who were struggling and those who were soaring. Though we weren't face-to-face, we could see where they were excelling, as well as areas for improvement. We could assign tasks based on the student, and not give "one size fits all" assignments. Whether face-to-face or remote, I will definitely be using SplashLearn during the 2020-2021 school year."
--Melisha Carson, Kindergarten Teacher from North Carolina
“My students love it so much. I have some students who would otherwise be indifferent or unwilling to do math happily, but spend many hours on SplashLearn, making huge strides in their learning, without even realizing, at times, that they were actually doing math!”
--Tiffany Taylor, 3rd Grade Teacher from Arizona
“There’s something about the program that really inspires them to try harder – so my entire class, with no exception, loves math now. Parents of my students are very impressed with the interest and love for math their kids show, even at home.”
--Julie DeFelice, 1st Grade Teacher from Georgia
