MonsterNums:
An ADHD-friendly Math-App
Conducting early design validation to align user needs, learning standards, and ADHD-friendly experiences
Timeline
May 2024 - August 2024
Role
UX Researcher - responsible for research, conceptualization, interviews, testing
Teams
5 UX Designers
4 UX Researchers
4 UX Writers
4 Product Strategists
2 Developers
Overview
MonsterNums is a math app designed to provide an engaging, tailored learning experience for ADHD students. As a memeber of the UX Research team, my focus was to validate the prototype's usability, visual design, and alignment with curriculum standards and ADHD-specific needs.
Problem
How might we design effective strategies to help ADHD students succeed in learning math?
Outcome
Developed a research-informed lesson design and validated it through feedback from math educators
Final Impact
Aligned team-wide strategy with module prototype
Generated insights with interviews and concept testing
Kickstarted future testing with end users by initiating the IRB process
What I did
Generated insights with interviews and concept testing
Design lesson module prototype and refined design system
Kickstarted future testing with end users by initiating the IRB process
Problem space
ADHD affects over 7.1 million children in the United States, and a third of which also face math learning disabilities
Many learning platforms are available for young learners, but few address the specific needs and nuances of students with ADHD
Why is this important?
Traditional math teaching methods are ineffective for neurodivergent children which often leads to disengagement, frustration, and potential long-term learning aversion.
Our mission
The MonsterNums platform addresses this gap by providing personalized math lessons that cater to the specific needs of neurodivergent learners.
REsearch objective
Validate the prototype's usability, visual direction, and content strategy
By validating our mid-fidelity prototype early on, we minimized the risk of misalignment with user needs and state standards, ensuring that each subsequent iteration delivered meaningful impact for the final app.
Lets break that down to specific research objectives:
Evaluate the overall usability of the app and intuitiveness of its visual cues and feedback
Evaluate the effectiveness of the visual design reducing cognitive load and creating engagement
Validate lesson content addresses ADHD learning needs and meets state curriculum standard
REVIEW & Analysis
Desk research
Understanding the specific learning challenges ADHD students face in math education
Challenge
How do we pick up where the last team left on in the research process?
What I did
I audited previous research findings and compiled them into a master findings document to identify the remaining knowledge gaps.
Outcome
The synthesis reflected that our research lacked specific focus on the math-learning related challenges that children with ADHD encounter. This audit directed the second round of literature review to focus on math learning disabilities such as dyscalculia.
Summary of findings
🧠 Working memory impacts math processing
Pain point: ADHD learners often struggle with mental math and slow processing speeds
Implication: Difficult to hold multiple steps in memory when solving problems
😵💫 Sensory overload affects focus
Pain point: Visual clutter and excessive stimuli can overwhelm students
Implication: Challenging to focus on mathematical concepts
😰 Anxiety creates learning barriers
Pain point: Visual clutter and excessive stimuli can overwhelm students
Implication: Challenging to focus on mathematical concepts
🧩 Learning style demands flexibility
Pain point: Students benefit from multi-sensory approaches and hands-on learning
Implications: Requiring adaptable presentation methods for mat
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
I identified curriculum design and standards of competitors
Challenge
Due to limited resources, our team researched evidence-based instructional practices to provide support in curriculum design
What I did
Comparatively analyzed six leading online Math platforms along the following topic areas:
Curriculum: Standards and Topics
Instructional Strategies
Learning Outcomes
Content Balance
Activity Types
Strengths and Weaknesses
Outcome
We gave recommendations to the UX Writing team in the form of best practices documentation.
Applying research to design
Our insights informed the final iterations of the sample lesson workflow
User workflow
Sample lesson exercise
Low-fidelity explorations
An exploration of different home page layouts, options considered included:
Jump back-in: Personalized greeting with last-completed lesson reminder, balancing engagement with focus
Progress visualization: Badge system with clear progress markers, helping ADHD users track achievements without overwhelm
Lesson branching: "Change lesson" sidebar allowing flexible navigation, but could distract from current task
Direct continuation: Simple "continue" prompt but risked losing context for returning users
Final prototype flow
To test the prototype, I formulated a research-informed hypothesis
Hypotheses Summary
Content
Use of multi-sensory question types that use real-life application and visual support will increase engagement among students
Language
Breaking down problems into smaller chunks with simple language, leads to improved comprehension and sustained engagement during lessons.
Support
Multi-modal support tools like text-to-speech, hints, and progress tracking increase student independence and reduce task abandonment during math exercises.
Aesthetic
A minimalist interface with clear visual hierarchy helps students focus better and complete tasks more quickly.
TeSTING THE HYPOTHESIS
Challenge: Recruiting a sensitive target population
We transformed recruitment challenges into opportunities by focusing on educator insight
Recruiting our target end-users—children diagnosed with ADHD— was unfeasible due to:
We lacked the Institutional Review Board (IRB) review protocol to test with minors and lacked an existing community network
Additionally, organizational changes restricted our timeline
STUDY DESIGN
My solution: recruit proxy secondary users
45-minute interview sessions
5 educators who taught Math to ADHD students
Part I
Exploratory Interviews
In these remote, semi-moderated interviews, educators discussed their experiences with ADHD learners and challenges related to teaching math
Part II
Concept Testing with a prototype
In the second half, participants were guided through the prototype to gather real-time feedback on its usability, design, and content.
Analysis
I used thematic coding and affinity mapping to synthesize insights into a heirarchial affinity diagram
Sample insight from user interviews
Sample insight from concept test
🔍 Problem Analysis:
Introducing sudden, new vocabulary and dense text creates cognitive load,
which promotes the tendency to guess rather than learn
💡 Opportunity:
How might we present supporting information in a way that reduces cognitive load without interrupting the learning flow?
Research impact
Our testing insights were used to inform prioritization for each team in the next phase
Recommendations for teams
UX DESIGN TEAM | EXERCISES
Build learning flows that transform abstract concepts into concrete experiences
Implement Learning Progression
Integrate "Concrete Representational Abstract" methodology
Break complex Common Core concepts into clear, sequential skill-building blocks
Enhance Engagement Systems
Develop a meaningful reward system
Design responsive UI feedback
UX WRITING TEAM | VOICE
Use simplistic language to tell compelling narratives that engage
Content Accessibility
Simplify complex concepts into age-appropriate language
Develop consistent vocabulary throughout the experience
Writing a Narrative
Create narrative elements that naturally integrate with learning objectives
Ensure story elements support rather than distract from learning goals
PRODUCT STRATEGY TEAM | SUPPORT
Define product role and classroom integration with clear support pathways
Learning Experience
Encourage thoughtful problem-solving over guessing behaviors
Educate students on their superpowers
Implementation Planning
Define clear use cases for classroom integration
Establish metrics for both engagement and learning outcomes
Reflection
Continuously align priorities
Always be evaluating user needs and relevance of the prioritization throughout entire design process
Designing an effective Concept Test
Asking questions that ground participants well in reflecting on their past experiences
Getting buy-in on a resource-constrained team
Where every team member's time is stretched thin, it can be challenging to prioritize and schedule interviews, feedback and testing
Building the foundation early with design systems
Overcoming challenges in recruitment by adjusting research focus and exploring alternative methods