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PICTURE SOURCE – DUOLINGO

Duolingo is a well-rounded app that teaches its users multiple languages. The company intends to expand by introducing a new version of the app aimed at math in elementary schools.

Founder and CEO of the app said, “Duolingo is known for language learning, but our mission has always been more general – it’s all about education”. “It would cost billions to build sports schools around the world, and with smartphones we can reach two thirds of humanity. But the problem with smartphones is that they are a double-edged sword – they have interruptions too. ”He expressed concern that social media platforms are a distraction.

The new math version of the app is due to hit the market next year.

“Parents tell us they consider Duolingo to be productive screen time.” “We could add things that have no educational value just to keep people busy, but we choose not to,” he added.

Founded in 2012, Duolingo has 40 million monthly users and 500 million downloads worldwide, including 20 million downloads in the UK alone.

“We started learning languages ​​because there was a huge need to learn English around the world, which can instantly increase your income potential, but we’ve always wanted to teach other things,” says Mr. von Ahn. As a native speaker from Guatemala, he developed the app’s first Spanish course himself.

Personalized

During an interview with BBC News, Mr. von Ahn said, “A lot of people at Duolingo don’t know that they are tailored for you at the start of a lesson.” Part of this personalization comes from tracking a user’s previous performance, but the app is also experimenting continuously with her millions of users and improving her model through crowdsourcing data – Mr. von Ahn’s specialty as an academic researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.

For example, the general rule is to teach people to learn the Spanish plural before the subjunctive, said Mr. von Ahn. However, when teaching Italian-Portuguese, is it better to teach adjectives before plurals? To answer questions like this, the app gives a batch of 50,000 new users the course in a different order to compare their performance with that of those who used the previous method.

“Another part of the secret sauce,” says Herr von Ahn, “is that we not only give you things that you are not particularly good at because it would be frustrating, but we give you exercises that we think we are as good as You have an 80% chance of being right.“Hope is so it is [the new maths app] stands out – but it remains to be seen whether it works. “

PICTURE SOURCE – DUOLINGO
Sketches for developing math apps.

However, translating language to math may not be an easy equation – especially since the new target users will mostly be children. Math has a very different learning journey to languages, says Martin Hassler Hallstedt, a psychologist who studies child rearing at Uppsala University in Sweden and has developed his own math games for children, including one called “Count on me”.

“Duolingo is a popular platform with strong references,” he says, “but it’s not scientifically proven for math. “It will be interesting to see how it engages younger children. “Our research shows that online math learning for kids produces the best results when it’s fun, short, and embedded in the game design. “It’s not enough just to be a digital version of math homework.”

Duolingo is characterized by its artful, colorful design. So the style of the app in its current state would be a great design platform for a new math-oriented version. It’s bright, has interesting characters who take on the role of the ‘teacher’, and overall it’s very interactive and fun. However, this comes from an adult. The question that remains is whether this can be turned into an app that teaches children math? Positive screen time is the future, Duolingo is moving with the times, and this new addition is exciting not only for the brand but also for grateful parents around the world.