Problem

We aim to address the issue of decreasing literacy in elementary school children, and create a design that increases children' s motivation and quality of engagement with literature. Literacy is an important skill that helps people develop critical thinking and has significant influence on “earning potential, health, and well-being” (The Education Hub, 2022). We are interested specifically in children’s literacy rates, and supporting children in engaging meaningfully with reading. This is because after the pandemic, children’s literacy rates have declined significantly (Harris, 2025). This is an important issue to address because child illiteracy can lead to many struggles and less opportunities in adulthood. For example, illiteracy is known to cause unemployment or only being able to obtain low-wage jobs, impede the ability to understand information for important services like healthcare, and can lead to higher chances of incarceration (Regis College, 2024).

While children’s reading apps do exist, the main gap we identified was a lack of personalized support. What we aim to create is a dynamic, engaging, and customizable service that motivates elementary school children to read more often and more attentively. To gain a stronger understanding of what actually motivates children to read, we conducted both primary and secondary research. Our literature review revealed that children are best motivated intrinsically, through interaction, challenge, and gamification. Primary research illuminated how educators believe in the potential of digital tools for personalized learning, but cautious about their potential to get out of hand without structure. 

Overall, our goal is to build an app that helps elementary students actively increase interest in literature outside of school so that they can improve their reading ability, have a strong foundation in literacy, and be better prepared for the rest of their academic career.