Duration: 2.5 months
Year: 2026
Advisor: Prof. HyunJoo Oh
Circuit City: Metro
Build your own Metro
THE IDEA: Learning through Playing
The game shifts from a top-down "master planner" model to a bottom-up strategy. Instead of following a rigid blueprint, children build organically focusing on the immediate connection of straight paths and turns. By starting with the small pieces, the complexity of the MARTA system becomes a tactile playground..
The Core Idea
Playful Mathematics
This MARTA-inspired game turns urban transit into a glowing, bottom-up building experience where children master spatial math through creative, tactile play.
As children assemble blocks on the grid to create routes, they are engaging in “stealth math.” Mapping out paths requires: Spacial Reasoning, Grid Logic, and Problem Solving. When the pieces attach and system lights up, it provides it provides immediate sensory validation of their mathematical logic.
Co-designed & Presented at Children’s of Measuem Atlanta
On April 23, 2026, we completed our third visit to the museum to showcase the final board and design.
More than 40 children engaged with our activity, typically staying for 2 to 4 minutes, a duration that exceeded our expectations given the naturally short attention spans of the 2-6 age group.
Our booth welcomed a diverse mix of field trip groups and families, children primarily between the ages of 2 and 6.
While their verbal feedback was blunt and direct—using phrases like "no," "it doesn't work," or "they are not connecting"—their sustained focus and physical interaction with the blocks demonstrated that they were, overall, deeply engaged in the experience.
