Making Math Usable For Young Learners
Sanskriti is maintained by Sai Gattupalli, Ph.D., a learning sciences researcher and educator focused on AI-integrated learning environments, culturally responsive computing, and educational equity. Sai earned his doctorate in Learning Technologies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he taught College Writing and collaborated on intelligent tutoring and multimodal learning projects. He writes at the intersection of culture, education, and technology and creates classroom-ready resources—including Equations & Echoes, a YouTube channel of AI-generated STEM music for young learners and teachers.
Usable Math (https://usablemath.org/) is designed to help elementary school math teachers and students in the United States improve their math skills and become better problem solvers. It provides interactive problem-solving activities with four virtual coaches - Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to Hound, and Visual Vicuna - who offer words, images, pictures, charts, graphs, animations, and gifs to help students understand and solve math problems. Usable Math is built using nocode platforms and relies on Google Slides for instructional delivery.
Additionally, students can write their own math problems (known as Math Design Invitations) and problem-solving strategies.
We are proud to announce that prominent educational blogger Rachelle Dené Poth has published guest blog posts on Usable Math. Rachelle Dené Poth is a teacher, consultant, and speaker who focuses on creating engaging and meaningful learning experiences for students. She is an advocate for innovative teaching methods and has been featured in prominent publications such as Edutopia, Education Week, and Education Dive. Her blog posts on Usable Math provides readers with valuable insights on how to use the system to help elementary school math students and teachers become better problem solvers.
Usable Math is an Open Educational Resource↗. For research and collaboration opportunities using Usable Math online math tutor, contact sgattupalli at umass dot edu.
