User research agency TeaCup Lab partnered with Zurich-based EdTech startup Sparkli to evaluate its AI-powered educational platform designed for children aged 5 to 12.
Sparkli's main goal is to turn a child's natural curiosity into personalized learning adventures. In order to do so, Sparkli uses generative AI to build customized "expeditions" featuring audio, visuals, quizzes, educational games, and debates, all accessible from a tablet.
This research focused on assessing user engagement, discovery patterns, and the onboarding experience for families to support the platform’s development phase prior to its official launch.
In order to capture both real-time behavioral data and reflective user feedback, we applied a combination of two different research techniques:
Longitudinal Diary Study A multi-week phase where children interacted with Sparkli’s digital expeditions in their home environments. Children completed periodic post-task questionnaires while parents logged daily usage context, tracking variables such as scheduling, environmental factors, and level of autonomy, and reported on the children's experience with the platform.
In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) Follow-up semi-structured remote interviews conducted with a selected segment of participating families. These sessions allowed researchers to deep-dive into behavioral trends, interaction habits, and patterns observed during the initial diary phase.
The diary stage involved 12 cohorts of parents and children aged 8 to 11 located in Spain.. Children were either native English speakers or attending international English-speaking schools, matching the primary operational language of the app platform.
TeaCup Lab managed recruitment, screening, and scheduling end-to-end to ensure continuous participant engagement throughout the 3 week diary study. Following this phase, a selection of 6 children and parents were invited to participate in the follow-up interviews.
To understand how families engaged with Sparkli, we focused on assessing user engagement, motivation, and the emotional connection formed with the digital platform.
TeaCup Lab also explored the platform's broader impact on the children’s learning journey and investigated its natural, at-home usage context.
Additionally, we gathered foundational insights to help define the ideal features and experience for a parent dashboard, ensuring the ecosystem addressed the needs of both the children and their parents.
TeaCup Lab’s research provided clear indicators of children's progression toward independent use. It also measured their emotional connection to the platform and their engagement with different content types. The study highlighted navigation pain points, comprehension barriers, and parental expectations regarding data transparency and overall value.
These findings had an immediate impact on the app's development, especially regarding usability features. The research helped identify which sections needed more scaffolding for kids, such as the process of asking a question to generate an expedition. Ultimately, these insights helped Sparkli optimize its product before the official launch.
