Who?
Bright Idea Education was founded by Ibrahim Farook, who arrived in Scotland as a refugee when he was young.
Why?
Farook struggled in school with dyslexia and ADHD. He left his job in finance to found the company ‘to ensure no child gets left behind’.
He says he loved learning, but struggled with the ‘one-fits-all approach’ of the UK’s education system.
What?
Bright Idea Education has created an app, Cosmico, which is an open-world videogame for children aged 5-11 and linked to the national curriculum in English, Science and Maths. It is available across iOS and Android devices.
How?
Children explore the Cosmico universe, learning and testing themselves in order to progress.
The game was tested with more than 2,000 children across 27 schools in the UK. During that period, the children demonstrated a 20% increase in attainment for critical subject knowledge. It also saw a significant increase in levels of retention amongst children with learning difficulties.
It allows parents to review their child’s progress through a real-time dashboard with bespoke insights into performance. The parents’ portal presents how much time kids spend playing, the percentage of the curriculum they have covered, their improvement, how they compare to the national average, and which subjects they struggle with most.
Where?
Bright Idea Education is based in London and has plans to expand beyond the UK.
They say:
Farook: “Our aim is to make children fall in love with learning through gamified tailored education. We want each learner’s needs to be carefully assessed and catered for regardless of age, location, gender, or ability.
“We are always quick to blame technology for the impact it has on education, and it’s true that the way children consume information has and continues to digitise year-on-year. But rather than battle against it, we think it is time to embrace it and utilise it to educate children in ways that will ultimately get the best out of them.
“The world is more aware than ever of the different challenges facing children with learning difficulties, but by and large education continues to be executed in a one-size-fits-all approach. At the heart of Cosmico is our goal that we can help support every student so that no learner is left behind.
“We are passionate about levelling the playing field. We can only do this by continuing to learn and develop, which is why we have invested so much in our AI, testing and feedback processes so we can continue to evolve and do more for all our users and their parents.”