Wonderbox teaching materials set
Editor: So it's not a so-called "study material"?
Kawashima: That's right. Our goal is to draw out the intellectual curiosity in children and develop it. For this purpose, Wonderbox's production members include "puzzle world championship participants" and "problem creators for the Mathematical Olympiad," and the materials created are very advanced while stimulating children's curiosity.
Editor: What kind of teaching materials do you actually have?
Kawashima: Wonderbox consists of an "app" and monthly "kits," and we aimed to attract children with the "appeal of the teaching materials themselves" rather than relying on points or rewards. The "kits" that are actually delivered to the children are carefully selected, rather than sending an excessive number of items. For example, the box that delivers the teaching materials has a riddle on the lid that can be solved when opened (entering the answer into the app unlocks the teaching materials for that month), and the box itself is a craft kit, so that children are excited from the moment they open it. There is also a teaching material called "Mission Hunter," in which children are instructed by characters to look for things in their houses that look like faces or triangles and take pictures of them. This is not a learning experience that can be completed on a tablet alone, but is incorporated into the learning content in order to create a connection with the real world.
Mission Hunter" answers the mission from the boss with a photograph.
To bring out the "potential" that lies within every child in the world.
Editor: What was the impetus behind the development of the Wonder Box?
Kawashima: Originally, I worked at a cram school called Hanamaru Gakushu-kai, where I created a book of problems called "Nazopee" and taught children as the head of the class, while also providing learning support at orphanages in Japan and overseas. There were many children who needed to be taught first and second grade studies even in fourth grade, and many children who had such low self-esteem that they did not want to play rock-paper-scissors because they would lose anyway. We wanted to create a teaching tool to help these children, so we created a learning app called Think Think. The app is now used in over 150 countries, and when I saw how excited children were to learn Think Think overseas, I knew I wanted to bring out the best in them. This was the impetus for the development of Wonderbox, a teaching tool that combines an app with a "kit that can be touched by hand.
