Award-winning skill developer Bamboo Learning has released its first report analyzing learner activities on its new, popular Alexa educational trivia game, Bamboo Luminaries. “We believe that insights from our unique data could further deepen our understanding of voice-powered learning,” said Irina Fine, co-founder and Head of Content at Bamboo Learning. “We hope to publish more reports like this in the future across the range of our voice-powered skills.”
In addition to Bamboo Luminaries, Bamboo Learning publishes Bamboo Books, Bamboo Math, Bamboo Music and Highlights Storybooks from Bamboo. Highlights Storybooks from Bamboo recently was named Education Voice Experience of the Year.
Bamboo Luminaries is a trivia game that features 76 important historical figures in various categories like music, sports, and art. The company adds new Luminaries to the game every month.
In this report, three learner activities were analyzed during the month of January:
- requests for specific Luminaries
- ability to identify Luminaries based on clues
- answers to questions about Luminaries
Out of 76 Bamboo Luminaries, players requested these three the mostTop 3 Most Requested Luminaries Category 1. Muhammad Ali Sports 2. Georgia O’Keeffe Art 3. Rosa Parks Social Justice
Georgia O’Keeffe was the second-most popular Luminary, yet the third most difficult to identify based on clues
Bamboo Luminaries learners guess historical figures based on clues spoken by Alexa. In January, 83% correctly identified Martin Luther King Jr., but only 15% knew abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth. In fact, Sojourner Truth was the hardest historical figure for learners to identify. Similar to the recent quiz from The New York Times The Upshot, which asked readers to name 52 politicians, athletes, and celebrities based on their photos, Bamboo Luminaries challenges learners to identify a range of Luminaries, but by listening to and responding to Alexa.3 Easiest Luminaries to Identify % Players 3 Hardest Luminaries to Identify % Players 1. Martin Luther King Jr. 83% 1. Sojourner Truth 15% 2. Muhammad Ali 82% 2. Alexander Graham Bell 20% 3. King Tut 77% 3. Georgia O’Keeffe 32%
“There tends to be a small group of very well-known people who dominate the cultural and historical narrative, but in reality there are many more people who shaped the world as we know it who are rarely discussed,” said Bamboo Learning CEO, Ian Freed. “Our first Bamboo Luminaries report demonstrates that we are on track to achieve our goal of creating a new, engaging, voice-based trivia game that helps the whole family learn more about history through the people that shape it.”
A World Heavyweight Champion at age 52?
The most surprising result of Bamboo Luminaries questions in January was that learners had trouble with whether Muhammad Ali won the World Heavyweight Championship at age 22 or 52. Bamboo Learning’s analysts surmised that most of the learners who answered this question were under the age of 40.Question
TypeEasiest Hardest Open-ended Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play what professional sport?→ [baseball] What has the United States Congress called Rosa Parks?→ [Both “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement” are accepted as correct answers] Multiple
choiceDid Jackie Robinson play in (A) 10 or (B) 6 World Series?→ [B = 6] Did Muhammad Ali win the World Heavyweight Championship at age (A) 22 or (B) 52?→ [A = 22] True or false Harriet Tubman traveled with the slaves by night and in extreme secrecy. Is this true or false?→ [True] King Tut lived during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. Is this true or false?→ [True]
Bamboo Learning also added 30 new historical figures to Bamboo Luminaries. Following its approach to have both well-known and obscure Luminaries, the company included artist Frida Kahlo, scientist Albert Einstein, and architect Norma Merrick Sklarek. Below are two Luminaries lists. First, is a list of Luminaries from the January report for cross-referencing and second is a list of the additional Luminaries available starting today.
List of Bamboo Luminaries for January ReportLuminary Category Luminary Category Ada Lovelace Science Jackie Robinson Sports Agatha Christie Literature Jane Darwell Film Alexander Graham Bell Science Jane Froman Music Alice Marble Sports Johannes Vermeer Art Alvin Toffler Literature John Adams History Amelia Earhart History John Lennon Music Anders Celsius Science Jonas Salk Science Annie Besant Social Justice King Tut History Arthur Miller Literature Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris) Architecture Augustus History Mahalia Jackson Music B. B. King Music Mahatma Gandhi Social Justice Benjamin Banneker Science Malcom X Social Justice Charles Schulz Literature Margaret Thatcher History Claude Monet Art Marie Curie Science Edgar Mitchell Science Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Edwin Hubble Science Mary Jane McLeod Bethune Social Justice Eleanor Roosevelt History Michael Faraday Science F. Scott Fitzgerald Literature Muhammad Ali Sports Fyodor Dostoyevsky Literature Niels Bohr Science George Eliot Literature Oscar Wilde Literature George Gershwin Music Patti Page Music Georges Bizet Music Rachel Carson Science Georgia O’Keeffe Art Robert Louis Stevenson Literature Giuseppe Verdi Music Rosa Parks Social Justice Gloria Lynne Music Scott Joplin Music Gore Vidal Literature Sir William Golding Literature Grace Kelly Film Sojourner Truth Social Justice Greta Garbo Film Theodore Roosevelt History H. G. Wells Literature Thomas Nast Art Hans Christian Andersen Literature Thurgood Marshall History Harriet Tubman Social Justice Upton Sinclair Literature Helen Gahagan Douglas History Vaclav Havel Social Justice Helen Keller Social Justice Vincent Van Gogh Art Henri-Louis Bergson Literature Vivien Leigh Film Ida Bell Wells Social Justice Voltaire Literature Indira Gandhi History William Faulkner Literature Isamu Noguchi Art William Penn History Isao Takahata Film Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Music
New Luminaries Added Today (February 13, 2020)Luminary Category Luminary Category Albert Einstein Science Ludwig van Beethoven Music Althea Gibson Sports Madam C. J. Walker Social Justice Anne Frank Social Justice Mary Jackson Science Babe Ruth Sports Maya Angelou Literature Charlie Chaplin Film Michelangelo Art Edith Cowan Social Justice Neil Armstrong Science Frida Kahlo Art Norma Merrick Sklarek Architecture Gabriel Garcia Marquez Literature Pablo Picasso Art Galileo Galilei Science Phillis Wheatley Literature Gautama Buddha History Robert Goddard Science Jacques Cousteau Exploration Sally Ride Science Johann Sebastian Bach Music Thomas Edison Science Julia Morgan Architecture Toni Morrison Literature Leonardo da Vinci History William Shakespeare Literature Lina Bo Bardi Architecture Wilma Rudolph Sports
About Bamboo Luminaries: Bamboo Luminaries can be enabled for free in more than 80 countries by saying “Alexa, open Bamboo Luminaries” to any Alexa-enabled device. Bamboo Luminaries also can be enabled using the Alexa app or via Bamboo Learning at: www.bamboolearning.com. Players who have Alexa screen-based devices, including Echo Show, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV stick, and Fire tablets, can view images, text, and graphics that enhance the voice-first educational game. A video demo of Bamboo Luminaries can be found here: https://www.bamboolearning.com/luminariesdemo.
About Bamboo Learning: Based in Seattle, Bamboo Learning is the award-winning leader in voice-powered education with a mission to bring engaging, high-quality learning experiences to customers around the world. Bamboo Learning develops skills for Alexa that enable families, teens, and adults to have fun learning and practicing diverse subjects while listening, viewing images, and using their voice. The company earned the title Education Voice Developer of the Year from the Project Voice Awards 2020. Bamboo Learning’s Alexa skills, including Bamboo Luminaries, Bamboo Books, Bamboo Math, Bamboo Music, and Highlights Storybooks from Bamboo, offer a range of challenging and engaging exercises to help customers master different levels of subjects. Customers can sign up for a Bamboo Grove account to follow their progress in Bamboo Learning Alexa skills.
Bamboo’s co-founders are Ian Freed, CEO, and Irina Fine, COO and Head of Content. Ian Freed is a 30 year veteran of the technology industry, including 12 years at Amazon, having served as vice president of Amazon devices, where he led both the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Kindle businesses, and served as technical advisor to Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos. Irina Fine is a 30-year veteran of curriculum development and teaching, having worked in public and private sectors of education in New York, Washington DC, London, and Moscow, after receiving her M.Ed. in Curriculum Development and an undergraduate degree in Piano Performance and Music Education. Learn more at: www.bamboolearning.com.
