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He is smoother than many older entrepreneurs in the way he communicates and carries himself. He has got a great future a head of him. This whole product is conceived and designed by him. The deck is really beautiful to look at and the game is very interesting. It is a quite an amazing effort from the 13 year old kid!
Firstly, card games that teach chemistry (and other school subjects for that matter) already exist. There are several on sale in the US and one in the UK that Elementeo mirrors closely. (look at links at the bottom of the post)
While these card games are not as in depth as Elementeo's might be, they certainly won't face the same resistance to adoption that Elementeo will surely face due to its gameplay structure. Despite having a steep learning curve to play (something that textbooks definitely don't have) the Elementeo game revolves around combat with terms such as "armies". Remember the backlash and mass-banning of Pokemon throughout schools? Interestingly this occured not because of the content, but because of the violent gameplay, something wich Elementeo is counting on to differentiate its product from existing ones.
All in all, Anshul Samar has done an impressive amount of work that surpasses many other thirteen-year-olds. However, textbooks do teach, and it is up to the teacher to make it interesting.
It's good that there are other card games out there already for teaching. This validates their market to have at least come competition already which validates the idea.
I agree that the game theme elements could be tweaked just a little bit. I've always been a fan of games where you try to get a high score as opposed to reducing your opponent to zero.
I tend to think those geeky ones would prolly rather learn real chemisty rather than a baby version of chemisty you would learn from a card game.
I'm pretty sure most people learning chemistry would enjoy this a great deal. Obviously, I would not suggest this be used in replace of actual learning, but it would serve as a great introduction or supplement to classroom learning, IMV.
And in terms of the violent content or whatever, I personally think there's a lot worse card games kids can play. Pokemon, MTG - all those advocate spending enormous amounts of money (from a game perspective) to get the best cards and are about on the same par as drugs for a lot of people who play them and get addicted.
And in terms of violence, I guess no one's looked at TV, the movies, or video games lately. Or maybe we ought to ban chess from schools. That's also strategy and defeating an opponent.
one thing i thought was .. what do his parents do and how it's kinda cool they got him lined up to look at the world like that so young, that you can make things up that are creative and helpful and possibly profitable:) good for them
Only shows that entrepreneurs' median age will keep decreasing, and people like these are certainly going to inspire more kids (& parents).
Of course, his real test of being a 'ceo' will be taking decisions during stressful and ambiguous situations. Learning from mistakes made will now be part of his life...advice from experienced people is also going to help.
I wish him Good Luck!
thats phenomenal; he's thirteen, a short seventh grader who has a good deal of chemistry knowledge and how to play business.
there's a name to look out for: Anshul Samar.
If you are responding to my message you are quite stupid. Since when is "who killed who in the battle of 1812" something you would learn in physics, calculus or chemistry class ?
The point was - this kid is learning very valuable life skills that other people don't learn well into their 20's and 30's. I wish more emphasis was placed on such skills. There is always time to learn about physics. And how much of high school chemistry class do most people remember anyway?
The only reason CEO skills are important at all is because this country values those skills. But anyhow in terms of learning..actually "there is always time to learn physics" hahahahahahahahahah
Not true at all..in terms of learning abstract thought such as math, physics, heck even computer programming, If you do not learn it at a young age it is very unlikely you will be capable of having the ability to learn it later in life.
That may be what you believe and function within but that has got to be the most myopic statement I have heard this weekend.
Great idea kid but as usual ...tangents are abound!
I'm a fourth year engineering student and I know a lot of people in the curriculum that are learning it better than me (i started college right out of high school). Heck there's a guy in the analog electronics class that didn't even graduate high school and now he's 35 and doing great in one of the toughest classes of the curriculum.
I will agree that the mind does have a better chance to learn with youthful vigor, but it all comes down to how badly you want it, and how much perseverance your willing to have.
So i agree with part of you, but I wouldn't say that it's "very unlikely"
IMHO, it is our mind-set that stops us from perceiving kids and accept what they can do. Kids ARE better salespeople and negotiators than many adults. If you dont agree, just try to remember the last time your little one wheedled a game out of you... :)
Kids can be very persuasive, persistent and articualte when they want - and almost every kid I know can be that when it is something they really really want. Looks like Samar and his team is enjoying what they do - one can almost feel the glee in their eyes!
While I cannot deny the value of formal education, there is no doubt in my mind that being a manager, being a negotiator or some other adult role is also equally important to survival and success. That these kids are learning by doing these skills, rather than sitting around listening to other people who they have done it - is their way of learning. And I think thats pretty effective too.
Way to go, Kiddos!
-MC
TiECon has couple more videos on this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qhJrdizQw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihd00M9Dgso
This bright kid should concentrate on his studies, and come up with something that would truly change when he would be matured enough to do that.
If they create enough hype then everybody starts believing them, thinking its ok etc. but the end of the day its all just part of psychological warfare.
I read most of the posts up here and I do agree with the fact that a 13 y.o belongs in the school not in the business market. Sure, right now its glorious and exciting but 5, 10 years along the road. The kid will probably just loose his mind.
I am shocked that parents can be so irresponsible. I mean pushing kids to do what they like and enjoy is one thing, but letting them manage startups??
I wish this kid all the luck as I am sure he'll need it bad.
What makes me happy is that it IS children who are eager to learn, and make learning fun for their peers. They have the potential to spin this off for many subjects, not merely chemistry, and the fact that they're obtaining venture capital shows that the VCs see the profit potential in it.