The builder's path
For: First-year Memorial students in required math courses face half the sections and bigger classes.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Step 1
Find a lab or university incubator
Researchers and students who can test it properly.
Newfoundland and Labrador's startup incubator: programmes, mentors and community.
Advice and funding for technology innovation in Canada.
Funded research internships linking students with organisations.
Tax credits that return part of what a Canadian business spends on research and development.
Step 2
Win a research grant
Funding for a rigorous trial or study.
Federal funding and advice for Atlantic Canadian businesses.
Funded research internships linking students with organisations.
Federal open data: the numbers a builder needs to size and test a public problem.
Quebec's AI institute in Montreal; partners with organisations on applied AI projects.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
the department running the first-year courses
the department's existing help for first-year math
Memorial's list of subject help centres
Raised the concerns about cuts to contract math positions and sections.
Can reach first-year students and gather what they need.
Any help tool needs to match their courses and help centre.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in St. John's. Problem: First-year Memorial students in required math courses face half the sections and bigger classes. Who it hurts: First-year students in Science, Engineering, Computer Science and Business who must take math. Why it is still unsolved: Seven of eight contract math positions were set to go. What solved looks like: Every first-year student who needs a required math course gets a seat and enough help to pass it. Where: St. John's First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“The true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.”
Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“Your right is to the work alone, never to its fruits.”
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”
δός μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.