DongA Science, a South Korean science media company that has published science magazines since 1986, has built an AI tutor on its own journalism. AiR NOVA answers students' science questions from the company's archive and shows the source article behind each answer. The company announced that the service has been named a CES Innovation Awards 2027 Honoree in the EdTech category.

Three Core AI Functions

AiR NOVA is designed for K-12 students and integrates three AI functions into a single app:

  • Tutor answers questions with verified sources. If a student asks, “Are new dinosaurs still being discovered?” Tutor explains at their grade level how the Doolysaurus was named in 2026 as Korea's third new dinosaur species, then displays the reference article.
  • Socrates is a patent-pending Socratic-dialogue mode that replies with guiding questions instead of direct answers, encouraging students to reason their way to an explanation in their own words. Students can also upload their inquiry reports, prompting Socrates to ask questions that walk them back through their conclusion process.
  • Coach sustains the inquiry process beyond the initial answer. Students work through missions tied to specific articles, which involve predicting, asking questions, checking sources, explaining and reflecting.

In the Classroom

Teachers can use Coach to structure lessons around articles that match their curriculum, build worksheets and missions, and track each student's participation and results via comprehensive reports. According to the company, this significantly reduces the time required to prepare inquiry-based lessons.

At launch, AiR NOVA's science and math content will align with South Korea's national curriculum, the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), Cambridge International and the International Baccalaureate (IB). AiR NOVA will be available in January 2027 on web, iOS and Android platforms, requiring no dedicated device. Pricing details will be announced at a later date.

Built on an Existing South Korean School Service

AiR NOVA is the global edition of DongA Science AiR, the company's established AI science inquiry service in South Korea. The school edition, DongA Science AiR edu, is currently utilized by more than 20,000 students across 170 schools, who collectively complete an average of 5,000 inquiry activities per month.

DongA Science developed AiR NOVA based on this operational experience and direct feedback from educators, including practicing teachers collaborating through a classroom problem-solving project run by the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS), a South Korean public agency.

The Korean service was honored with the Minister of Science and ICT Award at the 2024 Digital Service Frontier Awards, while its school edition received the Minister of Education Award at the 2026 K-EduTech Contest.

Showcasing at CES 2027

AiR NOVA will be featured in the Korea Pavilion at CES 2027, taking place Jan. 6-9, 2027, in Las Vegas. During the event, DongA Science plans to connect with global education institutions and edtech companies.

"This CES Innovation Awards honor reflects our long-standing effort to combine the science content we have built up over many years with AI technology to solve real problems in education,“ said Kyung-ae Jang, CEO of DongA Science. ”We want students around the world to start from a small spark of curiosity and discover the joy of inquiry with AiR NOVA, and we want teachers to be able to design inquiry lessons without the extra burden."

The CES Innovation Awards program, produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), honors outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products.

About the Archive

DongA Science began with its flagship magazine, Science DongA, launched in 1986. It publishes science and math magazines for children and teens and, together with its daily science news, has built an archive of more than 100,000 science articles over 40 years. The company operates the AI science inquiry service DongA Science AiR in South Korea and will launch its global edition, AiR NOVA, in January 2027.