Listen to this articleGolden Poppy Inc debuted an all-new, immersive, educational, augmented reality gaming system that accelerates girl’s higher-order engineering, English language arts, social and emotional development in a play-based mobile outdoor fairy tale with: Mysterious Disappearance of Unicorn Blue at CES 2020 earlier this month. We had a chance to interview Founder and Mom of three, Carrol Titus, to share more about her company and recent launch. Below is our recent interview with Carrol Titus, the Founder & CEO of Golden Poppy:
Q: Can you tell us something more about the company and what you do?
A: Microsoft commissioned a survey of 11,500 young girls across Europe with the London School of Economics. They found that young girls become interested in STEM at age 11 and then lose all interest by 15. This means that governments, teachers and parents need to instill a love of STEM in young girls prior to age 11 before they turn their backs on these areas, potentially for good.
We fix this.
Golden Poppy Inc has launched the first Augmented Reality Mobile Outdoor Game, The Mysterious Disappearance of Unicorn Blue to promote STEM Learning in Action for girls. First of its kind, this educational Augmented Reality (AR) mobile outdoor gaming system combines physical, digital, and social-emotional play to encourage higher-order learning of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) for girls.
As technology continues to shape our daily lives it should come as no surprise that computing jobs are the number one source of new wages in the U.S. and that 9 out of 10 parents want their children to learn computer science, however, only 45% of U.S. high schools teach computer science and by then, opportunity for early exposure has been missed. Interestingly, the National Science Foundation reported that male students enroll in high school AP computer science programs at a much higher rate than do female students (81% to 19%). Further, after a one-year study of its computer science program, Harvard found that women with eight years of programming experience are as confident as their male counterparts with zero to one year of experience. Not having an early introduction to computing skills and not seeing how math and science can apply to technology careers, can affect girls’ interest in STEM-related topics.
Q: You’ve recently launched first Augmented Reality mobile outdoor game; could you tell us something more?
A: Golden Poppy Inc is honored to have been showcased as a family tech thought-leader exemplifying the power of gameplay through technology in the Astra Toy Association booth Jan 7 -10 at CES2020.
Our revolutionary new augmented reality game The Mysterious Disappearance of Unicorn Blue is something young girls, parents and educators will not want to live without. It changes the way girls learn and play with STEM. It gets them away from the table actively running, leaping and choregraphing their own unique champion’s tale and STEM inquiry. The game showcases an Enchanted 3D Forest where girls learn to fly, jump and spin like fairy-astronauts. The software also features two augmented reality group and selfie photo booths to discover the magic of friendship and the unicorn within. All on a mobile device that fits in your pocket. Available on iOS and Android, both platforms support family sharing of multiple devices.
The premier box suite includes exclusive STEM videos that not only teach girls how to control their movement in 3D and understand the physics they are applying when playing the game but, also experiment with new narratives and social interactions to create and code a simple game of their own. And, if girls feel they need a little hint to find or solve a clue, a visit to Mahoo’s magic hint shop will speed them on their way! The premiere box suite also comes with beautifully illustrated instructions, enchanted forest map, certificates of completion, satin pouches and magical charms to collect and negotiate trades with friends to support higher-order social engagement.
The premiere box suite is currently available for order on goldenpoppy.net at an introductory price for USD 49.99, 10% off the retail price. For more information or to place an order, visit http://www.goldenpoppy.net.
Q: Carrol, you are the founder and a mother of three. How did your company come into being?
A: I started developing and testing Unicorn Blue in 2018 as a mother of three, former tech (Cisco, Sun, Visa) and start-up (Collinear Networks, Intensivate, Ujama) executive and graduate of Santa Clara’s Graduate School of Business in Information Systems and Game Theory. I then formed Golden Poppy Inc after winning the accelerator prize at Watermark Entrepreneur. Starting this company has been extremely rewarding working alongside psychologists, educators and parents to build an unparalleled community base to nurture our nation’s next gen of tech leaders. As a whole, the Golden Poppy Inc team consists of parents, grandparents, caregivers, early learning experts, fine-artists, innovators and technologists. Golden Poppy’s aim is to make every girl the champion of her own story and to realize the unicorn within. For more information, visit https://www.goldenpoppy.net
Founded in 2019, Golden Poppy Inc is a startup with offices in Silicon Valley and Delaware.
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Q: How young girls can benefit from playing this game?
A: With increasingly diverse and complex social contexts becoming more frequent, social interaction in support of engineering ingenuity, then, is an increasingly important skill to develop in early childhood. For the most part, engineering curricula have not kept pace to meet higher-order SEL thinking needed for an increasingly connected world. An analysis of one four-year engineering program showed that 2,345 out of 2,952 problems assigned (79%) were lower-level thinking skills-based.
Unicorn Blue’s highly social, interactive and endearing fairy tale, nominated for a KAPi award in STEM gives young girls early exposure to physics, computer science, English literature, reading, critical thinking and satisfies a set of social and emotional needs that the gamer world and curricula have largely ignored.
By playing Unicorn Blue girls learn to think and behave like a champion i.e., develop self-awareness, collaborate, negotiate, connect to nature, bond with friends, collaborate, read, problem solve, create, code, fly in 3D and spontaneously sprint like a magical unicorn with joyful self-expression.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: The Mysterious Disappearance of Unicorn Blue’s unique combination of collaborative narrative, endearing characters, AR photo booths, instructional videos, tradeable charms, and 3D play supports an innovation disposition within engineering. Future expansion is envisioned to give girls more accelerated learning and fun every time they play.
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