Appearance
Student Guide
Everything you can do as a Student on DoCurious -- including Tier 1 (school-only) and Tier 2 (parent-linked) differences.
What You Can Do
- Complete challenges assigned by your teachers or School Administrator
- Build Track Records that document your real-world experiences
- Participate in school and class community feeds
- Earn XP, badges, and level up through the gamification system
- Follow your progress on the Journey Map
- Try Dealer's Choice for randomized challenge discovery (Practice DC for under-13)
- Create personal Bucket Lists and join friend communities (Tier 2 and 13+ only)
- Receive gifted challenges from teachers, parents, and community members (scope depends on tier)
Tier 1 vs Tier 2
Under-13 students fall into one of two tiers based on whether a parent has linked to their account. Students aged 13+ have full platform access regardless of tier.
| Capability | Tier 1 (School-Only) | Tier 2 (Parent-Linked) |
|---|---|---|
| School-assigned challenges | Yes | Yes |
| Create Track Records (school) | Yes | Yes |
| School and class communities | Yes | Yes |
| XP, badges, and levels | Yes | Yes |
| Personal Bucket Lists | No | Yes |
| Friend communities | No | Yes |
| Share publicly outside school | No | Yes |
| Receive personal gifts | No | Yes |
| Full Explore page access | No | Yes |
| Dealer's Choice | No | Practice DC (1.25x XP, no penalties) |
Why two tiers? The two-tier system ensures no child is excluded from school activities because a parent has not responded to an email. Tier 1 operates under the COPPA school exception for educational use. Tier 2 requires explicit parental consent but unlocks the full platform. See Accounts for the complete COPPA breakdown.
Getting Started
Students do not self-register. There are two onboarding paths:
- School roster import -- Your School Administrator uploads a student roster (CSV). Under-13 students without email get a school-issued username (e.g.,
jsmith.lincoln). Students with email receive an invitation to set up their account. - Parent links to school -- A parent with an existing DoCurious account links their child to a school, upgrading the child from Tier 1 to Tier 2.
Once your account is active, you can log in and start completing challenges. For full onboarding details, see School Administration.
Account States (Under-13)
| State | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Pending Parent Approval | You can log in, browse public challenges (read-only), and view your school community -- but cannot participate yet. |
| Tier 1 Active | School link established. You can complete school challenges and contribute to school communities. |
| Tier 2 Active | Parent has linked and granted consent. Full feature access unlocked. |
| Dormant | 30-day parent approval window expired. Account preserved but login disabled until parent completes approval. |
Your Dashboard
When you log in, your student dashboard shows:
- Assigned challenges -- Gifted or invited challenges from your teachers, with due dates and required/optional badges
- Active challenges -- Challenges you have started but not yet completed
- Class communities -- Quick access to your class feeds (Bucket List, Track Record, Discussion)
- Recent activity -- Your latest Track Record entries, badge awards, and XP gains
- Progress summary -- Current level, XP bar, active streak, and recent badges
Assigned challenges appear in your "Invited" section as cards showing the challenge title, cover image, difficulty, teacher instructions, due date countdown, and your status (Not Started, In Progress, Submitted, Completed).
Key Features
School Assignments
Teachers and SAs assign challenges to your class by gifting or inviting them. Assignments can be required (tracked for completion metrics) or optional (suggested but not graded). Teachers can attach custom instructions -- for example, "Focus on the observation section."
Due dates are soft deadlines. There is no automatic penalty when a due date passes, but your teacher can see your status. For the full assignment workflow, see School Administration.
Track Records
Every challenge you complete produces a Track Record -- your documented proof of doing it. Track Records include photos, videos, text entries, and reflections. Your Track Records belong to you permanently. Leaving a school, graduating, or being removed from a class never erases your work.
Teachers can leave private feedback on your Track Records. This feedback is visible only to you, your teacher(s), the SA, and your linked parent(s). It appears with a distinct "Teacher Feedback" badge, separate from public comments. For full Track Record details, see Track Records.
Communities
As a student you participate in two types of school communities:
- School-wide community -- All active students and teachers. Managed by the SA. Uses the standard 3-feed structure (Bucket List, Track Record, Discussion). Always private.
- Class communities -- Created automatically for each class. Scoped to class members. Your teacher moderates.
Tier 2 students and those aged 13+ can also create and join friend communities (Family, Trusted Friends, Casual Friends) outside the school context. See Communities.
Gamification
DoCurious rewards doing things in the real world, not screen time. As a student you earn:
- XP -- Awarded for completing challenges. No XP for browsing or logging in.
- Levels -- 15 levels of progression based on cumulative XP.
- Badges -- Collectible achievements across 7 categories.
- Weekly streaks -- Maintained by completing at least one challenge per week. Streaks are weekly, never daily.
- Journey Map -- A visual map showing your exploration progress across challenge categories.
Under-13 students see age-appropriate presentation: visual rewards and collection emphasis for younger users, mastery progression for ages 10-12. Leaderboards are opt-in and only available at 13+. No student ever loses XP or progress. For the full system, see Gamification.
Dealer's Choice
Dealer's Choice is a randomized challenge discovery feature. You are dealt 4 challenge cards and must pick one to complete, earning bonus XP.
| Aspect | Under 13 (Practice DC) | 13+ (Full DC) |
|---|---|---|
| XP multiplier | 1.25x for all cards | 1.5x / 1.5x / 2.0x by novelty |
| Abandonment penalty | None -- XP cannot go negative | Full symmetric penalty |
| Card filtering | Strictly age-appropriate | Full algorithm |
| Max simultaneous | 3 | 3 |
Tier 1 students cannot access Dealer's Choice. Tier 2 under-13 students get Practice DC. Students aged 13+ get Full DC. For the complete rules, see Explore & Discovery.
Permissions Summary
| Action | Tier 1 (Under 13) | Tier 2 (Under 13) | 13+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complete school assignments | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create Track Records (school) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| School/class communities | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Earn XP, badges, levels | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Personal Bucket List | No | Yes | Yes |
| Join friend communities | No | Yes | Yes |
| Share publicly | No | Yes | Yes |
| Receive personal gifts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Browse Explore (read-only) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Full Explore access | No | Yes | Yes |
| Practice Dealer's Choice | No | Yes | N/A |
| Full Dealer's Choice | No | No | Yes |
| Opt-in leaderboards | No | No | Yes |
Age Transition
When a student turns 13, their account capabilities expand:
- Full platform access unlocks automatically -- equivalent to Tier 2 and beyond, regardless of previous tier status.
- Leaderboards become available (opt-in, never default).
- Full Dealer's Choice replaces Practice DC, with higher XP multipliers and the symmetric abandonment penalty.
- Parental oversight becomes optional -- parent links can remain active but are no longer required for COPPA compliance.
Portability is permanent. Whether a student graduates, transfers, or simply ages out:
- All Track Records and completed challenges stay on their personal account forever.
- School community memberships deactivate, but personal content is never deleted.
- Alumni status preserves the student's history while removing access to active school feeds.
- If the student has a personal DoCurious account beyond school, it continues to function normally.
A student's work always belongs to them. Schools provide a context for managing and viewing that work, but the work itself is never locked to any school.