Following an intensely competitive process, Triseum has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to conduct research and development on its four-game calculus series, Variant. Triseum creates innovative and immersive ways for students to connect with content through games. With its first calculus game, Variant: Limits, already in play at colleges and universities around the world, the grant will help Triseum fund the development of three additional games, all of which are aimed at improving engagement and significantly reducing calculus failure rates.
Success in calculus can be a prediction of persistence in STEM programs, yet a significant number of students don’t succeed. In fact, calculus has one of the highest failure rates of any college course. This can reduce graduation rates and restrict hiring into STEM careers. Variant activates students’ digital literacy and applies it to an educational setting. It assists learners in grasping core concepts in calculus, which ultimately leads to higher persistence, retention and graduation rates in STEM degrees.
The Variant series is to designed to engage and motivate students in meaningful ways. It draws students into an interactive 3D world of gameplay where they develop a conceptual understanding of calculus without reliance on definitions, terminology, formulas and calculations. They must apply their knowledge to advance, creating a learning experience that is exploratory and fun, but also productive and results-driven.
“The National Science Foundation supports small businesses with the most innovative, cutting-edge ideas that have the potential to become great commercial successes and make huge societal impacts,” said Barry Johnson, Director of the NSF’s Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships. “We hope that this seed funding will spark solutions to some of the most important challenges of our time across all areas of science and technology.”
NSF’s merit-based proposal process awards small businesses with the most innovative science and technology solutions, as well as commercial potential. As a grantee, Triseum is also invited to participate in the NSF workshop and boot camp, which takes place in March in Arlington, VA. To learn more about the NSF SBIR/STTR program, visit: https://seedfund.nsf.gov/.