Masterthesis TU Graz, April 2021

1. S C I E N C E P A S S I O N T E C H N O L O G Y
www.tugraz.at
Master’s Thesis -
School Start Screening Tool
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

2. 2
Motivation
Motivation
Introduction of a new screening method in Austrian
schools in the future
Announced by the Federal Ministry of Education in
January of 2020 [2]
Used to assess children before entering school as
well as in first and second grade
Available as paper-pencil and digital screening
Mobile app for iOS and Android tablets
Goal of this thesis: development of the application’s
design and structure as well as its implementation
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

3. 3
Motivation
School Start Screening Tool
Completely new screening method
Automatic evaluation of results at the end of each
screening
Cooperation with University of Graz and University of
Vienna
Designed assignments’ underlying structure
Developed calculations for evaluation
Further requirements:
Offline functionality
Different screenings for different schools
Downloadable Excel file containing all collected
screening results
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

4. 4
Analysis of Existing Screenings
Analysis of Existing Screenings
Literature Review
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

5. 5
Analysis of Existing Screenings
Analysis of Existing Screenings
Today: multiple screenings to choose from
Most screenings only available as paper-pencil
screening
Some also provide digital versions
Analysis of existing screenings should show:
Similarities
Best practices
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

6. 6
Analysis of Existing Screenings
ELFE 1-6 [4]
Available as paper-pencil or digital screening(!)
Makes use of a child-friendly graphical character
Motivates children
Gives verbal instructions and feedback
Uses audio files for instructions and feedback
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

7. 7
Analysis of Existing Screenings
ELFE 1-6 – Reading Speed Subtest
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

8. 8
How to Develop an App for Children at Preschool Age?
How to Develop an App for
Children at Preschool Age?
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

9. 9
How to Develop an App for Children at Preschool Age?
Design and Structure of App
Children at preschool age do not have necessary
skills in reading and writing
How to communicate assignment’s task to children?
→ Make use of a visual language
How to enable children to perform input?
→ Make input options as intuitive as possible
Children should stay motivated for several minutes
→ Wrap screening into a, for the child interesting,
frame-story
→ Make use of a child-friendly graphical character
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

10. 10
School Start Screening App
School Start Screening App
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

11. 11
School Start Screening App
School Start Screening App
Software was implemented during employment at
University of Graz
Continuous feedback from psychologists
App makes use of local SQL database
Solves offline functionality requirement
Central web application and API
Possible to assign different screenings to different
schools
Possible to download Excel File containing results
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

12. 12
School Start Screening App
Screening Assignments
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

13. 13
School Start Screening App
The App’s Frame Story
Poldi, the elf, is looking for a treasure
Child helps Poldi by solving assignments
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

14. 14
School Start Screening App
Single Choice Assignments
Phonological Awareness
Knowledge of Letters & Number Recognition
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

15. 15
School Start Screening App
Comparison Assignments
Comparison of Numbers
Quantity Comparison
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

16. 16
School Start Screening App
Supervisor Assisted Assignments
Screening supervisor is in charge of the whole
screening process
Usually one the school’s teachers
Input performed by screening supervisor
Start with warning prompting to place tablet in front of
child
After alert view is confirmed, assignment starts
At end of assignment, another warning asks to place
tablet again in front of child
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

17. 17
School Start Screening App
Quantity Knowledge
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

18. 18
School Start Screening App
Arithmetic Problems
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

19. 19
School Start Screening App
Repeat Numbers
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

20. 20
School Start Screening App
RAN and Sorting Assignment
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

21. 21
School Start Screening App
Automatic Evaluation
Considers all results of current screening run
Calculates level of development in 7 different
educational subjects
Calculations given by developmental psychologists
Make use of specified cut-off values
3 different levels of development:
Slight special educational needs
Obvious special educational needs
A checkmark representing no educational needs
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

22. 22
School Start Screening App
Automatic Evaluation
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

23. 23
Web Application & API
Web Application & API
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

24. 24
Web Application & API
Web Application
Only accessible to authenticated admins (University
of Graz, University of Vienna)
Features to:
Create and edit schools
Create, edit and assign screenings
Download Excel file with uploaded results
Developed using Zend Framework (PHP) [6]
MySQL as database
Doctrine ORM (Object–relational mapping) [1]
Deployed on Linux Server
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

25. 25
Web Application & API
API
Part of the web application
Also developed using Zend Framework (PHP) [6]
Processes HTTP requests to:
Authenticate schools to login to the mobile app
Download assigned screenings
Upload collected screening results
HTTP-body in JSON
JSON Web Tokens (JWT [3]) for authentication
Automated API testing using Postman [5]
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

26. 26
Evaluation & Conclusion
Evaluation & Conclusion
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

27. 27
Evaluation & Conclusion
Evaluation
Evaluation happened through:
Interviewing the developmental psychologists who
were in continuous contact with schools
Report of the Austrian Ministry of Education
Based on survey with involved schools
First screenings with final app in September 2019
More than 800 children were assessed
In 25 Austrian schools
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

28. 28
Evaluation & Conclusion
Evaluation
Evaluation basically very positive
Assignments were implemented as required and were
very intuitive
Teachers would choose app over paper-pencil
screening
Children did get along very well with the app and had
fun using it
Things that could have been done better:
Some technical problems with the prototype
Web application had set some restrictions
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

29. 29
Evaluation & Conclusion
Conclusion
Better educational support for child due to new
screening
Step to more digitized education in Austria
App saves paper-work and is more attractive than
paper-pencil
If more time available, more automated tests
Instead used bug reporting software in mobile apps
More functionality in central web application
Test screenings, central file manager and more
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

30. 30
Evaluation & Conclusion
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021

31. 31
Evaluation & Conclusion
[1] Doctrine. Doctrine: PHP Open Source Project. URL:
https://www.doctrine-project.org (visited on 01/06/2021).
[2] Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. Das
Pädagogik-Paket. Second, updated edition. Jan. 2020.
[3] Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). RFC 7519 - JSON Web Token
(JWT). URL: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7519 (visited on 01/24/2021).
[4] Wolfgang Lenhard and Wolfgang Schneider. “ELFE 1-6”. In: Ein
Leseverständnistest für Erst-bis Sechstklässler. Göttingen: Hogrefe (2006).
[5] Postman, Inc. Postman — The Collaboration Platform for API Development.
URL: https://www.postman.com (visited on 01/24/2021).
[6] Zend by Perforce. Home - Zend Framework. URL:
https://framework.zend.com (visited on 01/05/2021).
Paul Krassnig, BSc
April 15, 2021