Overview:

This organization is seeking non-invasive technologies and methodologies that can measure and interpret cognitive, physiological, emotional, and behavioral signals in real-world group settings. The intended use is understanding how teenagers learn and flourish, and helping them and the adults around them see what supports their learning. Technologies from any industry are of interest, particularly where similar measurement is already established outside of education.

Background:

Most measurement of learning today relies on tests, surveys, and observation. These capture outcomes after the fact and depend on what people can consciously notice or report. The processes that drive learning, such as attention, cognitive load, motivation, stress, and social interaction, are harder to see as they happen.

Capabilities for measuring these signals have advanced quickly in healthcare, consumer research, human performance, automotive, and other sectors, and are increasingly wearable, mobile, and affordable. Much of this progress has happened outside of education. This organization wants to understand which of these capabilities are ready to be used in everyday learning environments today, which are close, and where innovation is still needed.

Constraints:

Solutions of interest will:

• Measure one or more of: attention, cognitive load, engagement, emotional state, stress or arousal, sleep, physical activity and movement, or social interaction
• Be non-invasive. No implants, no skin penetration
• Be suitable for teenagers, including comfort, wear time, and a form factor young people will accept.
• Work reliably across a wide range of users, including variation in hair texture and style, skin tone, body size, mobility, and sensory sensitivity.
• Be usable by non-specialists. Setup and data capture should not require technical or research staff on site.
• Operate in real-world conditions, many participants at once, including movement, noise, and variable lighting.
• Provide accessible, exportable data.
• Support strong data privacy and consent practices, ideally with local or on-device processing.
• Cross compatible platforms and/or integrations that streamline data synchronization across multi-modal setups.

Possible Solution Areas:

•  Wearable and mobile brain sensing, including portable EEG and fNIRS
• Wearable physiological sensing, such as heart rate and variability, electrodermal activity, respiration, and skin temperature
• Eye tracking and gaze measurement
• Computer vision and behavioral analytics
• Voice, speech, and conversational analytics
• Movement, activity, sleep, and proximity sensing
• Ambient and environmental sensing 
•  Other solution areas related to learning and human flourishing not listed.

Related Tech Needs: 

NASA Seeking: Autonomous Therapeutic Modules and Behavioral Health Monitoring Systems

Seeking: Operational Cognitive Performance Assessment Tool for Spaceflight