IIT Delhi

Context

I worked with a research team at IIT Delhi on a project focused on early childhood learning (ages 3–8).

Project Description

The goal was to design learning tools that aligned with Indian education policy while remaining usable in real classrooms with limited resources.

The outcome included:

• A set of double-sided learning cards

• A collection of play-based learning games

• A bilingual teacher manual to support classroom use

The problem

Foundational-stage education in India faces multiple constraints:

• Strong policy direction toward play-based learning

• Limited classroom resources

• Teachers with varied training levels

• Overreliance on rote methods

The challenge was not a lack of theory.
It was translating research and policy into something teachers could actually use.

My role and scope

I worked as a design intern within a research-led team.

My contributions focused on:

• Designing a system of play-based learning games using existing materials

• Creating structured, goal-oriented games with clear rules and learning outcomes.

• Designing a bilingual teacher manual

• Translating research insights into concrete design decisions

I built on existing research and policy frameworks.

How I approached the problem

I treated the project as a system design problem, not a set of activities.

Before designing artifacts, I mapped:

• Policy goals (from NEP 2020 and NCF-FS)

• Developmental research insights

• Classroom realities and constraints

The key question was:

“What can realistically work at scale, not just in ideal conditions?”

Key system insight

Teachers needed structure without rigidity.

The system had to:

• Support play, not prescribe scripts

• Work across age groups and contexts

• Be flexible enough for teacher interpretation

This ruled out overly complex tools and screen-heavy solutions.

Designing a game system

I worked with an existing set of educational cards developed by the research team.
My role was to design a system of games that used these cards as building blocks.

I focused on:

• Creating games that could be played individually or in groups

• Designing rules that encouraged movement, conversation, and turn-taking

• Ensuring the same card set could support multiple types of play

Each game was designed to be:

• Easy to learn

• Flexible to adapt

• Grounded in developmental research

This approach allowed teachers to reuse the same materials across contexts without additional resources.

Designing the games

Using the card set, I designed multiple games such as:

• Passing and turn-based games

• Sorting and categorization games

• Movement and storytelling-based activities

Each game mapped to:

• Developmental goals

• Cognitive and socio-emotional skills

• Policy-aligned learning outcomes

The rules were intentionally simple, allowing young children and teachers to adapt them easily.

Designing the teacher manual

The teacher manual was a critical system component.

It was designed to:

• Explain why a game mattered, not just how to play it

• Help teachers understand learning objectives

• Support observation rather than assessment-heavy evaluation

The manual acted as a bridge between research and practice.

Research and policy grounding

The system was grounded in:

• Developmental psychology research

• Play-based learning theory

• National education policy and curriculum frameworks

Rather than citing theory directly in the classroom tools, research was embedded into:

• Game structure

• Progression of difficulty

• Facilitation guidance

This kept the tools practical and accessible.

Outcome

The project resulted in:

• A coherent learning system

• A reusable set of tools

• Documentation that supported classroom adoption

The work demonstrated how research-backed ideas can be operationalized under real policy and resource constraints.

Reflection

This project shaped how I think about designing under external constraints.
It showed me that policy and research are not limitations, but design inputs that shape systems at scale.