Forsøgskassen - practical science teaching in a box
A venture built on teachers' preparation time
/images/forsoegskassen/hero.webp
A foam chemistry demonstration running over on a plastic-covered classroom desk, part of a Forsøgskassen experiment
- Year
- 2021
- Role
- CMO
- Team size
- 5
- Tools
- Market analysis · Teacher interviews
- Contribution
- CMO, marketing, market analysis and the teacher validation interviews
Pre-dosed materials and a readable instruction sheet for one science experiment, aimed at years 4–6. Tested in real classrooms, where it scored 4.2 out of 5 on enjoyment with only 1 of 23 pupils finding it dull. 80 DKK per box against 52 DKK of materials.
The problem
Denmark is projected to be short 13,000 engineering graduates by 2030. Interviews with pupils traced the disengagement back to book-based science teaching in primary school; interviews with teachers found the cause was not willingness but preparation time. 70% of nature and technology teachers report having too little of it, and running a single experiment means finding a suitable activity, sourcing the materials, and rewriting an instruction sheet to the right reading level.
The product
A box holding everything needed for one experiment: materials measured out in advance, and an instruction sheet written for years 4–6 and sized for two to three pupils. The class runs the experiment themselves, so the teacher spends the lesson helping rather than managing.
Tested in real classrooms
Run with a 4th and a 6th grade class. The 6th grade prototype test scored 4.2 out of 5 on enjoyment, with 1 of 23 pupils finding it dull. The more useful observation was qualitative: pupils completed the experiment unaided and began describing themselves as scientists, which is notoriously hard to produce in children. Several asked to take the instruction sheet home.
The commercial case
80 DKK per box against 52 DKK in materials, roughly 378 DKK profit per class. Benchmarked on a strategy canvas against Testoteket, LIFE, Legeakademiet and KiwiCo, the nearest competitor supplies instructions but no materials, and the rest are built for the home rather than the classroom. Priced by penetration strategy, on the assumption teachers would stay sceptical until they had tried one. Target of roughly 55,000 DKK in soft funding, with a later route to a subscription platform based on the finding that the schools we visited already paid between 20,000 and 80,000 DKK a year for each of four to six online portals.
What I owned
CMO. I owned marketing and market analysis, including the teacher interviews that validated the problem.