Phonics is a smart console game used to help the kindergarten teacher to recognize and improve phonological awareness’ difficulties among children. Phonological Awareness is a key element of later reading and writing skills. Therefore, early detection of struggling kindergarteners is needed. Phonics consists of a variety of games which examine different phonological aspects. It allows the child to practice those skills while having fun!

Phonics’ structure is ​​based on the traditional children’s game ‘Simon’. It contains buttons, sound, lights, and smart cards. To begin each assessment session, the product identifies each child by scanning a card with a child’s photo, and then starts a game. The child selects a question card and puts it in the game, the game plays an audio question and 2 possible answers. After every question, the console adjusts to the player. If the child’s answers correctly it gets harder, otherwise, it gets easier. During this time, the product gathers and analyzes the child’s data. The data is reflected to the kindergarten teacher through an app.

How does it work?
The product is operated using Raspberry – PI components. The Raspi is connected to an RFID scanner and each smart card has an RFID chip. To begin each assessment session, the product identifies each child by scanning a photo by placing the smart card on the slot. Each card indicates a multiple of questions. If the player answers correctly, it gets harder and if not it gets easier, so the session is personalized for each user.

Once the player places a card in the product’s card slot, it triggers an audio question and two possible answers (based on his current skill set). The player pushes on the corresponding button, and gets visual LED lighting along with audio feedback according to the correctness of his answer. During this time, the product is gathering and analyzing the child’s gameplay data (timing and accuracy calculations etc.) and reflected in real-time to the kindergarten teacher through a NodeJS backend server using SQL DB along with a React Native frontend platform, which tells her the current classroom overview.