Relevate

Inspiration

Both members of this team are college students now and have lived through the 12 year schooling experience prior to that. Many times during school, we both wondered what is even the point of what we are being taught? Will we ever use it in real life? Will it ever prove useful? Millions of students around the world feel the same way about many subjects they are forced to study. We only realized the significance of the things we missed out on in school during the first year we spent away from home. We regretted our misgivings from our school days and wish that other students don't make the same mistakes.

Though project-based learning goes a long way, it is not sufficient and still leaves students questioning their education. Such an attitude leads to disinterest which in turn contributes to the student not putting in effort and not achieving the desired learning outcomes. This can lead to poor performance in school and depression as well. However, this doesn't mean that asking these questions is wrong, in fact, it's quite the contrary. Knowing why we are learning something is very important. Through our hack, we intend to make this information very accessible by using a combination of AI and personal anecdotes from experienced adults to show students how a particular topic could be useful later in life. Our overall goal is to inculcate a passion for learning in students.

What it does

Anytime a student is sitting in class feeling uninspired, they could open up our website to ask questions about the relevance of what they are being taught in class. A personalized learning space will allow students to explore topics they asked questions about in further depth. The learning space will be integrated with an AI chatbot which will be continuously trained on adults' (professors, teachers, individuals in industry, college students, etc.) reflections on their past learnings.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the potential the idea holds and the significant impact which could be made. The ability to provide Individuals with the tools to acknowledge the applications of the content they are learning in class would truly transform a student’s mindset.

What we learned

We did an extensive amount of research on the science behind how students truly learn better, and one of the studies we discovered (https://www.edutopia.org/neuroscience-brain-based-learning-relevance-improves-engagement) stated “Studies published in the journals Nature; Science; and Mind, Brain, and Education support this idea, and a solid amount of research also links personal relevance and emotional engagement to memory storage.”

For example, when a student who is studying Computer Science with a concentration in Graphics learn about three-dimensional linear transformations, they most likely are questioning “Why am I learning this?” However, if the student can ALSO learn about the indispensable connection between three-dimensional linear transformations and 3D graphics, they will be more inclined to learn because of its personal relevance.

Another popular question students raise is "Why must I study history? How can learning about the past ever help in my future?". Someone might tell them that we need to learn from the past so that we don't make the same mistakes, which is true but as a student, I remember still feeling skeptical. In real life, I have found that my knowledge of history has actually helped me a lot in social situations and in connecting with people. These are a few examples of the practical applications of theory that we have experienced in our lives and we want Relevate to help young, aspiring students realize the same.

This learning process, which included some deep introspection, was truly fascinating and exciting for us.

What's next for Relevate

One way or another, what we learn in school will carry with us for the rest of our lives. Whether it is another language, a theorem in mathematics or Newton's 2nd law in physics. The ability to ask Relevate the relevance of what you are learning in relation to career pathways and real-life applications will truly transform students’ mindsets.

Beyond this, the next steps for Relevate is to create a sleek web application which integrates a forum homepage tailored to the users’ interests based on the previous questions they have asked. The individual will be able to scroll through countless questions others users have asked and view responses Relevate has generated for them.

This next step will transform the way Relevate will be used and help individuals elevate their learning.

Built With

• css3
• google-docs
• html5
• javascript
• publications