Interactive Tool to Let Students Play with Math

A new, free learning tool coming out of Indiana University Bloomington aims to make static math problems easier for students to solve.

IU researchers formed the education technology startup Graspable Math to deliver their technology to algebra classrooms. The application can be accessed via web browser and used as both a teacher presentation tool — where the teacher is standing in front of a smartboard or projector — or a homework tool for students to receive immediate, step-by-step feedback.

Graspable essentially allows students to rearrange terms on the screen to solve math equations, recording and sharing all of the steps they take to arrive at their answer with the teacher.

“Graspable Math turns alegra into a real thing that you can interact with, and that's something fantastic for students, who can actually now go and explore algebra,” said Erik Weitnauer, research associate and co-founder of Graspable.

The United States Department of Education funded the IU research project to develop interventions that would help students see the dynamic properties of algebra the way that experts do. The Graspable team is working with schools in Massachusetts, Virginia and Indiana to study how kids learn.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • stylized human profiles, tablets, and floating icons

    From Feedback to Flexibility: 5 AI Tools Teachers Should Try

    As a fifth-grade teacher and AI School Champion in the St. Vrain Valley School District, I've seen firsthand how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education. Here are five AI-enabled tools I've found especially powerful in my classroom and professional practice.

  • silhouetted student stands before the White House, surrounded by abstract digital graphics of brains, circuits, and AI elements

    White House Sets Sights on AI Education

    A new executive order from President Donald Trump aims to advance America's position in artificial intelligence technology by incorporating AI into education and providing AI training for educators.

  • interconnected glowing nodes and circuits in blue and green, forming a neural network on a dark background with a futuristic design

    Tech Giants Launch $100 Billion National AI Infrastructure Project

    OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle have announced a new venture, Stargate, through which they aim to build a massive AI infrastructure network across the United States. The initiative, which was announced at the White House with President Donald Trump, has been described as the "largest AI infrastructure project in history."

  • stacks of glowing digital documents with circuit patterns and data streams

    Mistral AI Intros Advanced AI-Powered OCR

    French AI startup Mistral AI has announced Mistral OCR, an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) API designed to convert printed and scanned documents into digital files with "unprecedented accuracy."