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Good practice Imported

ConectaIdeas — CIAE/Universidad de Chile's Gamified Adaptive Mathematics Platform

Chile · Santiago · See the Chile profile · See the Santiago profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 28% 60/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Created by CIAE at Universidad de Chile, ConectaIdeas is a gamified adaptive maths platform for primary schools. A 2017 IDB-backed evaluation of 1,300+ students showed gains equal to half a year of schooling; a 2022 EEF/SUMMA trial spans ~250 Santiago schools.

1,300+ students
Students covered in 2017 IDB-backed evaluation (2017)
48 courses
Courses covered in 2017 IDB-backed evaluation (2017)
half an additional year of schooling (effect-size equivalent)
Learning gain from 2017 IDB-backed evaluation (2017)
27 points
SIMCE mathematics score improvement (2017, after seven months of platform use)
~250 schools
Santiago schools in 2022 SUMMA RCT (2022)
~9,000 teachers
Teachers reached in Peru (offline version) (since 2021)
150,000+ students
Students reached in Peru (offline version) (since 2021)
11 countries
SEAMEO member states piloting ColoreaIdeas
ConectaIdeas — CIAE/Universidad de Chile's Gamified Adaptive Mathematics Platform

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación (CIAE), Universidad de Chile
Period
2007-ongoing (impact evaluations: 2017, 2022)
Keywords
primary education, mathematics, gamification, adaptive learning, education research

Context

ConectaIdeas is a gamified, adaptive mathematics platform for primary-school students, created by researcher Roberto Araya at the Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación (CIAE), Universidad de Chile, and running for more than 20 years. Students earn 'flags' for correctly solved exercises and compete in inter-class and inter-school tournaments against schools of similar characteristics. Students who answer ten questions correctly in a row can become peer 'monitors' who help classmates still struggling, combining motivation, gamification and structured peer collaboration to support mathematics learning.

Activities

Since 2021, an offline-adapted version of the platform has been deployed in Peru, reaching roughly 9,000 teachers and more than 150,000 students in urban and rural areas. A translated derivative called 'ColoreaIdeas' has been approved for piloting across the 11 member states of SEAMEO in Southeast Asia.

Results

A 2017 IDB-supported impact evaluation covering more than 1,300 students across 48 courses in vulnerable Chilean school contexts found effects equivalent to half an additional year of classes. A separate 2017 experimental study across 24 public schools measured students on Chile's national SIMCE mathematics test after seven months of platform use and recorded a 27-point improvement. In 2022, ConectaIdeas was selected by the SUMMA Impact Fund, backed by the UK's Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) together with the IDB and J-PAL/MIT for impact measurement, for what organisers describe as the largest randomized controlled trial of its kind in the region, spanning around 250 Santiago schools split between treatment and control arms; results from that trial had not yet been published at the time of this write-up.

Conclusions

The evidence base is strongest for Chile, but the 2017 findings come from studies conducted or commissioned by the platform's own research centre and partners rather than a fully independent outside evaluator. The larger 2022 randomized controlled trial's outcome data remains pending publication, so the platform's ultimate scale of impact is not yet confirmed.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Research and platform team based at CIAE (Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación), Universidad de Chile, led by researcher Roberto Araya, Participating primary schools and their teachers, who run the platform with students in the classroom, External research and funding partners for impact evaluation, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the UK's Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) via the SUMMA Impact Fund, and J-PAL/MIT for impact measurement

Conditions for success

  • A structured peer-support mechanism in which students who answer ten questions correctly in a row become 'monitors' who help struggling classmates
  • Gamified elements — earning 'flags' for correct answers and inter-class/inter-school tournaments against similarly-characterised schools — to sustain student motivation
  • Sustained external research and funding partnerships (IDB, EEF/SUMMA, J-PAL/MIT) to support impact evaluation at scale

Commonly funded by

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Data sources

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