Empowering Underprivileged Students with Learning Tech
Students in rural India struggle to access hands-on experimental tools, preventing many from passing practical exams necessary for college admission. Turn the Bus, an EdTech nonprofit, tasked us with designing a digital solution to bridge this gap.
My team and I developed a 3D lab app that allowed students to conduct virtual experiments. Over 300k students improved their practical skills and opened doors to higher education and better opportunities.
My Role
Interface Design
Model Prototype
Usability Testing
Design System
Team
Product Manager
Design Lead (Me)
Research Led
Develop Lead
Duration
Jan - Aug 2024
Tool
Figma, Blender, Three.js
CONTEXT
Without access to labs, rural Indian students are left unprepared for practical exams, which limits their opportunities for Higher Education
CEO, Turn the Bus
"Our mission goes beyond just helping students pass their exams. We wish to spark a lifelong curiosity in science. We want to empower them not only to succeed academically but also to thrive in future studies and careers."
Project Manager,
Turn the Bus
To make the most of our limited resources as a small team, we adopted a lean approach.
With just one developer, we focused on building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with essential features.
Project Planning Overview
FINAL DESIGN
Pre-training + Scaffolded Learning
Strategically build foundational knowledge before introducing complex tasks
Ensure that every learner—regardless of prior experience—has the tools they need to succeed
Learning by Doing
Provides immediate feedback and guidance to allow learners to reflect, revise, and iterate on their understanding
Personalized Learning Path
Support learners at different levels with flexible routes
Help each learner progress at their own pace and based on their individual needs
Guided Discovery
To foster deeper understanding and curiosity, I incorporated a guided discovery approach—a learning model that encourages students to explore and make sense of concepts on their own
DESIGN IMPACT
After completing our tutorial and virtual lab activities, students improved by…
Our final product led to more than 100% increase in learning gains among students with no prior knowledge of the subject. This solution is now actively empowering over 300k+ students from rural Bihar, helping them achieve academic success and enjoy science learning.
Exploration
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
Who are we designing for?
To gain a better idea of who we are designing for and what their unique needs/wants/wishes are, we interviewed 3 students who have taken the board exam and 2 local teachers who taught 12-grade physics.
The persona summarizes what we know about the target user:
"I want to be the first in my family to go to college and have a bright future, but practical exams feel impossible without real lab experience."
"I don’t want to just pass my exams; I want to explore science and innovate, but without labs, it’s like learning without seeing."
Rajesh
12th-grade student from rural Bihar
Sunita
12th-grade student from rural Bihar
"My dream is to go to college and become an engineer, but without the lab tools, I can’t even understand how experiments work and pass my practical exams."
"Without lab equipment, I feel lost with practical exams. I want to understand science, not just memorize it."
UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGE
How did we interpret the learning challenges for our target students, and how should we approach them?
SYNTHESIS
Research data says..
Ideation
EARLY IDEATION OVERVIEW
From 0 to 0.5, I proposed leveraging existing tool to test out how we can best prompt students' active learning
USER TESTING
To answer these questions, we tested our 1st MVP with 6 users
Think-alounds User testing
To evaluate the effectiveness of our MVP design, we conducted 90-minute Zoom user testing sessions with 6 participants.
Affinity Diagramming
After the user testing, we extracted insights from each of our sessions. Then, we compiled them in an Affinity Diagram to find key insights and themes across the data.
KEY TAKEAWAY 1: LACK OF CONFIDENCE
Students lack confidence in hypothesis formation and conclusion analysis
“Can I write I don’t know?” - P1
“I think I need to go back to the lesson.” - P3
Most Indian students lacked confidence in forming hypotheses and preferred traditional methods where answers are provided, avoiding active problem-solving.
By integrating more interactive activities that guide students through hypothesis formation, we can gradually build their confidence in active problem-solving.
KEY TAKEAWAY 2: OVER-RELIANCE ON FORMULAS
Students relied on formulas in their problem solving approach
“According to the formula...” - P4
“Can I look back at the formula?” - P1
Participants' focus on formulas indicated that their prior physics learning was heavily math-intensive.
This presents an opportunity to enhance our instructional approach by incorporating deeper mathematical scaffolding, encouraging students to truly understand the concepts rather than simply memorizing equations.
KEY TAKEAWAY 3: DIGESTIBILITY
Students prefer pictures and simpler English
“Having more pictures and simpler words would be much better.” - P2
“Why is there another page of text?” - P6
Most participants reported feeling fatigued by lengthy blocks of technical text and requested more visuals to help explain key concepts.
Given that our target users are non-native English speakers, simplifying the language and incorporating more visual aids is crucial to improving comprehension and engagement.
KEY TAKEAWAY 4: FLEXIBILITY IN LEARNING
Fixed lab setup hindered students' discovery learning process
“I can't connect the wires this way?” - P4
“I think I connected everything correctly?” - P2
The existing solution OLabs only supports one correct wire connection method, limiting students' ability to explore alternatives. It also lacks feedback when students get stuck, making it more of a review tool than a learning resource for beginners.
To foster more exploratory learning, we could design a flexible tool that allows students to arrange lab equipment freely, mirroring the real exam setting.
Develop
DESIGN TO ENGINEERING WORKFLOW
From 0.5 to 1, how did we move from content to production?
Fast-Track Android UI with
Figma & Material 3
We decided to design in Figma and develop with Material 3 framework, which allows us to leverage pre-built, well-established components optimized for Android devices.
Material 3’s design system offers a comprehensive set of guidelines and UI elements. It helps me iterate my designs rapidly and hand off to the engineer efficiently.
COMPARISON OF PROTOTYPING TOOLS
What about the virtual lab? How about a lightweight, cost-effective solution for 3D development?
Working with Constraints
A team with one developer, handling everything from interactive simulations to complex 3D lab tasks
Low team budget because we're partnering with a nonprofit
Mandatory browser integration, must be supported on the existing EdX platform
Choice of Three.js
Seamless integration — from design to launch
Lightweight — easy to get started and implement
No cost, can be designed with Blender or other free modeling tool
3D Made Simple with
Blender & Three.js
Blender offers powerful yet free tools for creating detailed 3D models, which makes it ideal for replicating lab equipment in an educational context. Once the models are built, exporting them to Three.js and making them available in an interactive web-based environment is straightforward.
Both tools are beginner-friendly. The learning curve remains manageable while maintaining high-quality results.
Observe
Find resources on the lab exam, study the look of the instrument
Model
Prototype the 3D instrument in Blender, replicate the look of real-world instrument
Export
Export the 3D model and import to the web page with code
Design
Design Decision #1
By introducing an "I don't know yet" option and adding interactive simulations, we encourage students to engage more freely in trial and error.
No confidence? Let's make it easier
Indian high school students are accustomed to a test-driven learning environment, where the focus is often on getting the right answer rather than exploring concepts.
To shift this mindset, I decided to add an "I don't know yet" option to emphasize that students are not being tested but are encouraged to explore and try.
Additionally, I incorporated interactive simulations with tips, which allows students to test and adjust their hypotheses as they progress. These elements are designed to boost students' confidence and make discovery-based learning feel more approachable and empowering.
Encouraging, motivating language
Immediate feedback to consolidate understanding
Tips to guide students through the hypothesis making process
Burdenless hypothesis making
Design Decision #2
We expanded the formula derivation process into an interactive tutorial to help students understand the math behind, not simply memorize it.
Comprehension > Memorization
Indian students tend to rely heavily on memorizing formulas rather than fully understanding their derivation and application.
To address this, I designed an option for students to either deep dive into the formula derivation process or view a summary version if they are already familiar with it. This flexibility accommodates different learning levels.
Additionally, I integrated animations and "next" buttons to present the formula derivation step-by-step. This ensures that the process is easy to follow and helps shift the focus from rote memorization to deeper comprehension.
Visualize formula derivation with animation
Foster deeper learning with probing questions and constructive feedback
Personalized learning route for students at different levels
Reduce students' anxiety with learning progress indication
Design Decision #3
To enhance active learning and better prepare students for practical exams, we provide greater flexibility in lab setup and offer tailored feedback.
Bridge Learning and Testing Closer Together
The existing tool OLabs offers a pre-established lab setup, which discourages students from exploring through trial and error.
To address this, I designed a lab environment where students can freely move and connect objects. This helps simulate a real-world exam setup and give students a chance to practice building the lab from scratch.
Additionally, I integrated tailored feedback and hints to guide students when an error occurs, helping them understand their mistakes and preventing feelings of helplessness.
Freely arrange lab equipment, just as in a real practical exam
Step-by-step lab guidance to avoid confusion in procedures
Open-ended wire setups, connect with no limits like a real-life lab
Tailored adaptive feedback to address students' specific misconceptions
PROJECT TAKEAWAYS
My Wrap-up Thoughts ↓
I learned that..
Agile + Lean is the key
When resources are limited, focus on testing the risky hypothesis first before investing
Consider everyone's strength in a team
Allocate tasks strategically to maximize results
Prioritize usability and practicality
Think about how usable the product would be in underprivileged students' daily environment..
With more time, I'd…
Improve the lab realism
Further bridge the gap between virtual and physical learning
Enhance accessibility
Conduct comprehensive accessibility audit and remove any blocks
Integrate learning analytics
Keep track of students dropoff rate and accuracy for each section
