Magrid: A Luxembourgish learning app conquers the world

Dr Tahereh Pazouki brought a tablet with her to the interview at the University of Luxembourg's incubator. She invites us to do a few exercises on it. An animation on the display shows us what to do. We then intuitively drag rectangles or triangles to their destination, arrange numbers or connect the dots arranged on a grid pattern to form a line.

Thousands of pre-school children will probably be trying out exercises like these for the first time in the coming weeks. The learning application called Magrid (short for "Math on Grid") has been used in schools across the country for several years. Children use it to train the precursor skills that are primarily, but not exclusively, important for learning maths later on: logical thinking, recognising patterns, problem-solving skills, fine motor skills or eye/hand coordination. What makes it special: Magrid works without language.