During their own school days, Michael Fuchs and Gerhard Dorn could hardly have been more different when it came to mathematics. While Gerhard was among the top students at his school and was already winning national awards at the age of 12, Michael struggled to get by from one grade to the next. By chance, the two met years later during their doctoral studies at a teaching conference at Graz University of Technology and subsequently decided to revolutionize mathematics education together.
Mathematics: A Fascinating History
At the time of the conference, Gerhard had just created an online course on probability theory and, with great effort, woven it into a gripping story. His enthusiasm for mathematics had never waned, even as he pursued his doctoral studies in quantum physics, and he was determined to share it with others. At the conference, he presented his course “Captain Bayes and Her Adventures in Probability Theory,” which featured a stimulating pixel art style with numerous seafaring examples and animations designed to motivate students to learn probability theory.
Focus on modern teaching methods
Michael attended the same event for entirely different reasons. During his doctoral studies, he had delved deeply into the field of pedagogy and taken every course and professional development program available on the subject. From his own school days, he knew that while technical subjects are rarely boring, they are unfortunately often poorly taught. To prove the opposite, he had been teaching a course on “Electronic Circuit Design” for several years using the modern flipped classroom format, and had just been awarded the “Prize for Excellence in Teaching” by the TU and nominated for the State Teaching Award. Now he wanted to see how mathematics could be taught better.
Playing and learning—two sides of the same coin
During their initial conversations, Gerhard and Michael quickly realized they had much more in common than set them apart. Drawing on their experiences as tutors and from their own school days, they exchanged ideas about how modern math instruction should work. Michael had already been thinking about an online role-playing game for tutoring students eight years earlier, so they dissected this idea and its full potential and quickly came to the joint decision to start a company.
edventure Studios
They envisioned a company that prioritizes social impact, emphasizes modern teaching methods, and functions as both a tutoring center and a game studio. They quickly assembled a fantastic team and began working on this idea together.
After participating in numerous startup accelerator programs (Gründungsgarage, Innovator’s Road Program, and Social Business Hub), the ideas of two very different students had matured, and edventure Studios GmbH was born. Backed by many supporters, an entire team set out to rethink education with these ideas.
