Pizza Maths VR Version 0.3 Ready for User Testing
5 Schools / Further Education Colleges and Counting…
Over the past few months we’ve been beavering away improving Pizza Maths VR. During testing of versions 0.1 and 0.2 we confirmed some things we suspected we would need to change and added several features we’d never have known were necessary without our 30 strong posse of 10-14 year old user testers. We now have five educational establishments signed up to help test version 0.3, including a further education college that has many adult learners who need a GCSE in maths, as well as a small army of parents willing to host us in their homes so that their kids can also contribute to the co-creation process. Brain Man VR would like to extend big thank you to our current cohort of enthusiastic testers. We really couldn’t do it without you.
There’s always room for more so if you are a parent or a school in the Greater London area (or within a few of miles of Windsor) please do get in touch to express your interest: www.brainmanvr.co.uk/contact-us
Remote Testing Program
If your or your school has access to a Meta Quest headset, you are tech savvy enough to tackle “side loading” the software onto a headset (using free Side Quest software) and you are keen to join our remote testing program then please do let us know. We are rolling out remote testing with the International School of Paris early next year and plan to extend this yet further over the course of 2025. Once Pizza Maths is loaded onto a VR headset, remote testing involves supervising one or more learner while they try Pizza Maths with Brain Man VR virtually present via a Google Meets videoconference or similar. This enables us to supervise the first rounds of testing, to ensure a standardised approach and then asking you to help the student fill out a simple questionnaire. It takes about 30 minutes, including an introduction to the testing process from our CEO and debrief, but we will block out a 60 min session in case of unforeseen technical complications.
What’s Changed in Version 0.3
We now have new improved customers
During testing of version 0.1 we were alerted to the need for customers. As 0.1 was a basic proof of concept the game cycle involved the user moving between the pizza preparation area and the oven, and a light on the over flashed green if the correct proportion of ingredients had been applied and flashed red if the ingredients were wrong. In version 0.2 we added customers, who would place the order and then respond when they received the pizza to signal whether is had been made correctly or not. But often the user was busy making the next pizza, which meant they didn’t always catch the customer’s reaction. Effective learning requires the learner to get rapid feedback on whether or not their calculation was correct, so for version 0.3 we added a button on the serving counter to ensure that the user will be looking in the right direction when the pizza is delivered. Or so we hope. The only way of knowing for sure is - yes - you guessed it, to do more user testing!
Learners now get feedback on whether the pizza was made correctly or not from the customers
In version 0.1 the pizzas were cooked instantly, which our testers felt was a bit unrealistic, so for version 0.2 we added a timer on the oven consisting of a yellow circle with an expanding coloured segment that turned green to indicate when the pizza was ready to serve and red if the pizza was left in for too long.
New oven timers, to ensure every pizza is cooked to perfection (assuming the learner doesn’t leave it in the oven for too long)
We also added a conveyor belt that sends the cooked pizza on to a “Slice-O-Matic” machine at the touch of a button.
The Slice-O-Matic machine in version 0.3 automatically slices and boxes the pizza, before delivering it to the hungry customer.
Conveyor belt leading to Slice-O-Matic machine
Once our collaborators from the department of Mathematics at the University of Leicester have finished their industrial project designing a suitable game to teach various aspects of Circle Theorem to Pizza Maths players we will be further developing this aspect of the game in future releases.
During testing of version 0.1 our trusty testers told us that they didn’t want to be rewarded in mere points, but instead they wanted to earn money. And they were pretty unequivocal that they wanted the currency to be Great British Pounds (£) and not dollars, which took us somewhat by surprise. So that’s what we gave them. We now have a cash register that shows a running total of all the money earned in that particular session.
Learners can now see how much cash they’ve earned for their pizza making efforts
