UCI MHCID CAPSTONE · CLASS CRUNCHLABS
OUR PARTNER
Who is Class CrunchLabs?
PARTNER
Class CrunchLabs is a free extension of the CrunchLabs brand, a hands-on science kit company.
WHAT THEY OFFER
A complete, standards-aligned physical science curriculum for middle school. 4 units live today, 1 more coming soon, scaling to 90+ planned.
01
What was asked of us?
If teachers wanted to invest their time into Class CrunchLabs, they had to read through a long PDF to become acquainted with the system, which proved too long for teachers' short time planning.
02
What needed to be done?
We needed to create a way for teachers to access Class CrunchLabs, be introduced, access materials, and be prepared to teach a lesson, all within one user journey.
03
How would we do it?
To start such a large task, we needed to understand how teachers thought and planned their lessons. We made it our goal to understand their decision-making and thought processes through various avenues of research.
Six teacher interviews anchored the research, which was reframed midway from "tell us about the website" to "walk me through your last unit," and was supported by a literature review and a 10-tool competitive analysis.
DIAMOND 1: THE PROBLEM
DIAMOND 2: THE SOLUTION
01
Discover
Literature review, competitive analysis, 6 teacher interviews.
02
Define
Affinity + journey mapping → the reframed HMW question.
03
Develop
Ideation, Mild/Medium/Spicy prototypes, Test 1.
04
Deliver
The modularity pivot, hi-fi build, Test 2 (Maze).
— 5th grade teacher
Reverse planning
Teachers start from the standard, then work backward. The goal has to lead.
Allow customization
Nobody adopts a whole external unit; they grab one activity and drop it in.
Time matters
Teachers are overworked and will ignore a curriculum if it takes too long to figure out how to use
Teachers trust teachers
Confidence comes from other educators, not marketing.
Search & Filter, Context, Materials, and Page Navigation & Trust: four decisions the team defended to Class CrunchLabs, each backed by research, forming one funnel from broad context down to what one lesson actually involves.
01 · SEARCH & FILTER
Finding what’s needed
Search Filters, Embedded Materials, and Page Navigation: three decisions the team defended to Class CrunchLabs, each backed by research, forming one funnel from broad context down to what one lesson actually involves.
Research backing: Affinity mapping: "Lesson plans should be easily filtered by factors teachers prioritize, like objectives, topics, and time." Validated in testing: 6.2/7 filter helpfulness.
02 · CONTEXT
What a teacher sees first
Hero, unit overview, the standards-aligned "Three-Dimensional" section, and a Quick Start guide sit together up top: everything a teacher needs to decide this unit is worth their time.
Research backing: Journey mapping: standards identification is stage one of how teachers actually plan a lesson, so the standard and objective had to be the first thing on the page, not buried.
03 · EMBEDDED MATERIALS
One place for everything
Teacher and student materials stay visually separate, with an "open all in Google Drive" link. Hands-on challenges get their own swimlane. There's nothing to build and nothing to dig for either.
Research backing: Teacher interviews: pieces, not curricula. Nobody adopts a whole external unit, they grab one activity and drop it in, so materials had to be usable in isolation.
04 · PAGE NAVIGATION
A guided experience
A sticky nav jumps to every section of the unit, next to a "Unit At A Glance" box with one-click links to the Drive folder and supply list, plus a running count of what's inside and a bookmarked items panel.
Research backing: Teacher interviews: teachers trust teachers, confidence comes from clear, navigable structure, not marketing. Confirmed in testing: 0% drop-off/misclicks.
We ran moderated tests first, then an unmoderated round via Maze, letting teachers work through the finished design on their own. Before the polished build, one idea that research strongly supported was cut, and the team redesigned around the same need instead of quietly dropping it.
Class CrunchLabs' lesson plans currently can't be broken up and reordered, so a true drag-and-drop "Modular System" wasn't buildable this cycle. Two related ideas hit the same wall: a navigational sidebar and a standalone bookmark-and-save feature both tested well but stayed concepts rather than a full path.
All three stayed real, tested design work; none of them shipped as originally scoped.
0%
drop-off / misclicks
6.2/7
filter helpfulness
6/6
would use the site
3.3/7
Amazing Cast usage
FLAGGED NOTES
Weak feature adoption: the Amazing Cast swimlane scored only 3.3/7 on how often teachers said they'd use it.
Named, not hidden: a teacher with zero prep periods said there's "still a lot to digest." Centralized findability helped, but didn't fully solve the time problem.