We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexander F.L. Newberry a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alexander, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
Primary education needs to be gamified as much as possible. Science tells us that kids learning through games do so more quickly and effectively. Numberella Deluxe is a game that proves this. For two years running, kids playing for only 1 hour per week improved their end of year exam grades twice as much as their peers in the control group (in the same grade level, at the same school) who had not being playing the game. Poor numeracy costs the economy billions of dollars and denies millions of children (usually from low income households) the chance to fulfil their potential. It doesn’t need to be like this!
Alexander, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Alexander F.L. Newberry. I am the founder of Numberella World, the gamified and storified learning universe. I am the inventor of the math game Numberella Deluxe, played by thousands of students in schools and homes in every state in the USA and around the world. I began working as a private tutor in 2009 and have since completed over 16k hours of one on one instruction. I specialise in Math but most importantly, in gamifying learning. Students learn best when they are playing – it’s a scientifically proven fact that it takes kids 400 repetitions to form a new synapse under normal learning conditions. When they’re playing, that number falls to 20. (This research was reported by Dr. Karyn Purvis of the Ohio Centre for the Education Of Young Children.)
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 2007 (before I became an educator) I got a record deal with my band The Fuse. It was with Velocity Entertainment, an LA based label founded by the late Russ Regan, an industry giant behind Elton John, Barry White and Neil Diamond. It was a massive breakthrough. In 2008 as the global financial crisis unfolded, Velocity went under. Having moved to LA seemingly on the brink of stardom, I had to move back in with my Mum and do some thinking. That was what brought me to teaching. I had a very privileged education and it felt right to give something back. That was the first pivot on the path to where I am today.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
We launched Numberella Deluxe in October 2018. It was an instant success, with our first school district sale coming in November and a rapid expansion across the US. We had sold to 47 states within our first 12 months. We were knocked sideways by the pandemic. Schools locked games away in cupboards and forgot about them. We didn’t sell a box for several months. That was tough. We focussed our attention on building out our digital platform and expanding our question database. We rode out this period and since things got back to normal from late 2022 we have got back on the front foot, and sold out L2 and 3 in the US and Australia. It just goes to show, when you have a product you believe in, you just have to stick behind it and keep the faith.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.numberella.club
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/numberellaworld/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/numberella.club
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-f-l-newberry/
- Twitter: @numberellaworld
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9x0_wEdWelyb0KZfF7IflQ