AMPLIFY DESMOS MATH FLORIDA
We’re honored to introduce you to Amplify Desmos Math Florida. We’re confident that this comprehensive program will be a powerful tool in classrooms across the state.
Please start with the video on the right to learn more.
California educators, welcome to math that motivates. Introducing Amplify Desmos Math California, a curiosity-driven TK–12 program that builds lifelong math proficiency. Each lesson poses problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. Students encounter math problems they’re eager to solve, while teachers spend more time where it’s most impactful—creating a collaborative classroom of learners.
Keep reading to learn more about the program and explore sample materials.
Amplify Desmos Math California is a TK–12 core math program designed to meet the CA Math Framework and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Amplify Desmos Math California thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application through a structured approach to problem-based learning. Through engaging activities, Amplify Desmos Math California invites curiosity and math discourse into the classroom to create lifelong math proficiency.
Continue reading to learn more about the K–8, Algebra 1, and Math 1 programs and to explore sample materials. (Spanish, TK and high school materials are in development and will be available in the 2026–27 school year. Geometry and Algebra 2 beta pilots will be available in the 2025–26 school year.)
Amplify Desmos Math California combines the best of assessment, problem-based core lessons, personalized practice, and intervention into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.
mCLASSⓇ Math benchmark assessments, along with the embedded program assessments, measure not just what students know, but how they think. The asset-based assessment system provides teachers with targeted, actionable insights, linked to core instruction and intervention resources. Unit- and lesson-level core assessments give teachers data at their fingertips to guide and differentiate instruction. In grades 3–8, core assessments and performance tasks are designed to prepare students for success on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) testing.
Amplify Desmos Math California core lessons pair problems students are eager to solve with clear instructional moves for teachers. Each lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. With built-in differentiation and multilingual/English learner support, Amplify Desmos Math California enables every student to find success in the math classroom.
Boost Personalized Learning activities help students access grade-level math through engaging, independent digital practice. Responsive Feedback adjusts to students’ work, providing item-level adaptivity to further support their learning.
Amplify Desmos Math views differentiation as an ongoing process where teachers are both reactive and proactive to student needs, ensuring that all students have clear pathways to proficiency. Through rich data and teacher support, Amplify Desmos Math uses flexible categories of intervention and enrichment that adjust daily according to student thinking.
In-the-moment differentiation supports are available for every lesson, both digitally and in the print Teacher Edition.
Clear, step-by-step instructional moves help teachers plan and teach student-centered lessons that use
student thinking to differentiate instruction and guide to grade-level understanding. They include:
The CA Mathematics Framework encourages a shift from power standards to thinking about math as a series of connected Big Ideas. Each Amplify Desmos Math California lesson supports one or more Big Ideas and the connections between them. The grade-level diagram changes through the course based on the math concepts addressed within.
Click here to see how the Big Ideas are represented within the K–8 core lessons.
Amplify Desmos Math California incorporates the Drivers of Investigation (DIs) and Content Connection (CCs) throughout the program. Throughout the year, students engage with open and authentic tasks of varying durations—from lesson activities to unit-level Explore lessons and longer course-level Investigations. Every lesson and investigation opportunity is grounded in the why, how, and what of the learning experience, and helps teachers bring mathematical concepts to life.
Mathematics is not learning in isolation. Students are connected to each other’s thinking and can use math to understand the world. With accessible invitations to authentic tasks, all students can experience mathematical success. Amplify Desmos Math California provides these authentic invitations in a variety of ways:
Each unit begins with an “Explore” lesson, which allows students to engage with authentic exploration in low-floor, high-ceiling tasks. These tasks are designed to promote an inclusive and differentiated learning environment—allowing all students to access basic mathematical concepts, while offering advanced exploration and problem-solving for those ready for more complex work.
Our innovative course-level investigations are designed to facilitate multi-part exploration. Students grapple with Big Ideas, diving deep into key concepts that encourage comprehensive understanding. Data science is infused into the approach, giving students a solid foundation from which to interpret and apply data-driven solutions. They’re also encouraged to understand and appreciate the interrelatedness of Earth’s environmental systems via our lesson’s focus on the Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs).
Amplify partnered with the English Learner Success Forum (ELSF), a national nonprofit organization that advocates for high-quality instructional materials that are inclusive of multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs). ELSF reviewed Amplify Desmos Math California, and provided directional guidance and feedback to ensure that the program reflects their research-based instructional strategies for multilingual/English learners.
Amplify Desmos Math California recognizes the diverse language needs of our students and is designed to be inclusive. Each lesson in the program features a parallel language activity, designed to be available to all students, in the form of teacher guidance and student activities. The activities in the Math Language Development Resources have level ELD differentiation to support all levels of ML/ELs. This approach ensures that all students, regardless of their language skills, can participate fully, grasp the material, and excel in their mathematical journey.
Our Multilingual Glossary includes, in addition to Spanish, nine languages: Simplified Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, European French, Russian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Haitian-Creole, and Urdu.
Amplify Desmos Math California will include Spanish student-facing materials beginning in the 2026–27 school year.
By starting with what students already know, Amplify Desmos Math helps build a strong foundation for success to guide and support future learning. Teachers are empowered to transform every classroom into an engaged math community that invites, values, and develops student thinking. With explicit guidance on what to look for and how to respond, teachers can effectively support students as they develop their understanding.
A variety of performance data in Amplify Desmos Math provides evidence of student learning while helping students bolster their skills and understanding.
Unit-Level Assessments
Our embedded unit assessments offer key insights into students’ conceptual understanding of math. These assessments provide regular, actionable information about how students are thinking about and processing math, with both auto-scoring and in-depth rubrics that help teachers anticipate and respond to students’ learning needs.
Lesson-Level Assessments
Amplify Desmos Math lessons are centered around sense-making and in-the-moment feedback. Daily moments of assessment provide valuable evidence of learning for both the teacher and student.
Amplify Desmos Math provides teachers and administrators with unified reporting and insights so that educators have visibility into what students know about grade-level math—and can plan instruction accordingly for the whole class, small groups, and individual students.
Reporting functionality integrates unit assessments, lesson assessments, personalized learning, Benchmark assessments, and Progress Monitoring for a comprehensive look at student learning.
Our reports show proficiency and growth by domain, cluster, standard, and priority concept using performance data from unit assessments. Then our reports highlight areas of potential student need to allow teachers to modify their instruction and target differentiated support.
At-a-glance views of unit-level assessment results inform your instructional planning, and you can also drill down to item-level analysis.
Our standards report allows you to monitor proficiency at the class and individual student levels. Proficiency and growth are shown by domain, cluster, standard, and priority concepts. Areas of potential student need are highlighted to allow teachers to modify their instruction and target differentiated support.
Amplify Desmos Math provides a complete picture of student, class, and district performance, allowing administrators to implement instructional and intervention plans.
To learn about the elementary program, please start by watching the Amplify Desmos Math California Elementary Program Overview video.
For additional program information and helpful navigation tips, download the Amplify Desmos Math California Elementary Program Guide.
To learn about the middle school program, please start by watching the Amplify Desmos Math California Middle School Program Overview video.
For additional program information and helpful navigation tips, download the Amplify Desmos Math California Middle School Program Guide.
In Amplify Desmos Math, embedded interactions and animations allow students to test predictions, get feedback, share ideas, and connect representations.
The digital interactions included in lesson activities are designed to elicit student thinking in a way that feels fun and inviting. As students play and explore math concepts, teachers can highlight the ideas that students share, connect those ideas to other students’ ideas, and build on their thinking through productive class discussion.
Watch the video to preview the digital experience and for helpful platform navigation tips.
All lessons in Amplify Desmos Math California include print materials and rich digital experiences. Every lesson is supported with Student Edition pages, teacher presentation screens, and interactive digital resources for practice and differentiation. Some lessons also enable students to use devices to interact with lesson content.
You’ll find sample materials by grade level in the following drop-downs. Please refer to your physical samples and the digital platform (accessed through the demo account provided by your account executive) for a comprehensive program review.
Math 2–3 is currently being developed and will be available in the 2026–27 school year.
The Amplify Desmos Math Geometry Beta National Edition is available for piloting in the 2025–26 school year. Amplify Desmos Math California Geometry will be available in the 2026–27 school year.
This sampler includes Teacher Edition front matter for program overview information, plus Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for Units 1–2.
The Amplify Desmos Math Algebra 2 Beta National Edition is available for piloting in the 2025–26 school year. Amplify Desmos Math California Algebra 2 will be available in the 2026–27 school year.
This sampler includes Teacher Edition front matter for program overview information, plus Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for Units 1–2.
For questions, samples, or more information, please contact your local Amplify account executive:
Erin King
Sales Director, CA
(512) 736-3162
eking@amplify.com
Northern CA
Wendy Garcia
Senior Account Executive
(510) 368-7666
wgarcia@amplify.com
Bay Area
Lance Burbank
Account Executive
(415) 830-5348
lburbank@amplify.com
Central Valley and Central Coast
Demitri Gonos
Senior Account Executive
(559) 355-3244
dgonos@amplify.com
Ventura and L.A. County
Jeff Sorenson
Associate Account Executive
(310) 902-1407
jsorenson@amplify.com
Orange and L.A. County
Lauren Sherman
Senior Account Executive
(949) 397-5766
lsherman@amplify.com
San Bernardino and L.A. County
Michael Gruber
Senior Account Executive
(951) 520-6542
migruber@amplify.com
Riverside and L.A. County
Brian Roy
Senior Account Executive
(818) 967-1674
broy@amplify.com
San Diego County
Kirk Van Wagoner
Senior Account Executive
(760) 696-0709
kvanwagoner@amplify.com
Under 2300 students in Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, and Northern Counties
Kevin Mauser
Lead Account Executive
(815) 534-0148
kmauser@amplify.com
Under 2300 students in Southern CA, Central Coast, and Southern Central Valley Counties
Charissa Snyder
Account Executive
(720) 936-6802
chsnyder@amplify.com
Boost Math™ is a powerful intervention system that advances student growth and ensures access to grade-level math for all students.
Boost Math offers differentiation and personalized learning that build on students’ existing understanding, while scaffolding instruction allows every student to succeed with grade-level content. Teachers spend less time planning and more time ensuring that every student’s specific needs are
met—with customizable intervention resources that help differentiate when and how it matters most.
Boost Math helps teachers as they implement effective daily differentiation and intervention—minimal planning time required. The system provides access to ready-to-go,
core-aligned resources including:
Boost Personalized Learning activities complement your core instruction by supporting understanding of your daily learning goal. The asset-based technology responds to each student’s unique needs based on prior assessment data and student responses.
Build grade-level proficiency through targeted math intervention with teacher-led, 15-minute Mini-Lessons. Support or re-engage small groups of students through explicit, guided practice designed around the extensive research of faded, worked examples.
Gain valuable insight into what students know with mCLASS® Assessments. Through the
whole-class, digital mCLASS Beginning-of-Year Screener, teachers can leverage reliable,
actionable data to inform tiered intervention.
The structure and recommendations of Boost Math help teachers quickly personalize learning that works alongside your core instruction.
The flexible instructional model is designed around teacher and student needs, with everyday intervention resources connected to the math you’re teaching.
The built-in math intervention gives students what they need with guided Mini-Lessons; digital, independent Fluency Practice; collaborative Centers (K–5) and Extensions; strategy-based games called Math Adventures; and more—minimal planning time required.
Boost Math empowers all learners to experience success—and actually enjoy—grade-level math, with activities that complement core instruction and support understanding of the daily learning goal.
The Support, Strengthen, and Stretch model provides differentiation for every core skill, with alignment to your core math program.
Amplify’s comprehensive math suite, Amplify Desmos Math Texas, provides seamless alignment to help teachers diagnose and capitalize on student strengths, foster deep investment, and build student agency.
Everything is in one place—with screening and progress monitoring, core instruction, integrated personalized learning, and embedded intervention teachers can trust.
Desmos Classroom is a free teaching and learning platform that places student engagement at the center of instruction.
Desmos Classroom features free lessons, lesson-building tools, sharing features, and more. Built by math educators, the platform makes differentiation in realtime easier for
teachers—personalizing instruction for students at the moments that matter most.
Explore Boost Math content and create your teacher account on teacher.desmos.com.
Amplify programs are designed to support and complement each other. Learn more about our related programs.
Expect more from your assessments with mCLASS® Math Texas, a brand-new digital benchmarking and progress-monitoring assessment system.
mCLASS Math Texas represents the next generation in math assessment. It provides educators not only with reliable measures of student achievement, but also with an asset-based approach that analyzes student responses to reveal underlying mathematical thinking. The Student Thinking Report provides actionable insights, so teachers can confidently plan both whole-class instruction and targeted intervention.
mCLASS Texas offers reliable progress-monitoring and digital benchmarking assessments that evaluate student performance against grade-level expectations and growth throughout the year. The digital program seamlessly integrates with intervention and core instruction, providing rich, actionable, data-driven recommendations for where and how to support learning. The program empowers you to leverage your students’ strengths with features like:
mCLASS Math Texas K–5 will be available for the 2025–26 school year.
mCLASS Math Texas provides insights not only into what students know about grade-level math, but also into how they think. By leaning on students’ individual strengths and strategies, teachers can confidently differentiate instruction and plan future intervention.
The asset-based approach of mCLASS Math Texas digital benchmarking and progress monitoring gives teachers peace of mind that students are making meaningful progress in their math development. The system recognizes that all students have their own ways of thinking. Their individual strengths, experiences, understanding, and strategies—or assets, as we collectively refer to them— inform the robust data that powers mCLASS Math Texas.
We’re thrilled to announce that mCLASS Math Texas is undergoing an official third-party study conducted by WestEd, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research, development, and service agency. This in-depth validation analysis aligns with our commitment to transparency, data-driven enhancement, and providing the most effective educational tools for our users. The findings of this study will be available by fall 2025. Stay tuned to learn how mCLASS Math Texas will revolutionize your math assessment experience.
The integrated insights and intervention recommendations of mCLASS Math Texas empower teachers to implement timely scaffolds and targeted intervention when needed. Following screening and progress monitoring, teachers can differentiate when, where, and how it matters most with customizable, high-impact instructional resources to support all learners.
Amplify’s comprehensive math suite, Amplify Desmos Math Texas K–5, provides seamless alignment to help teachers diagnose and capitalize on student strengths, foster deep investment, and build student agency.
Everything is in one place—with screening and progress monitoring, core instruction, integrated personalized learning, and embedded intervention teachers can trust.
Amplify programs are designed to support and complement each other. Learn more about our related programs.
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify Desmos Math Texas K–5. This site provides the login steps and tools you need to review the program.
Watch this short introductory video to help you navigate the Amplify Desmos Math Texas K-5 platform. Then, use the login credentials below to start your online review.
The helpful Navigation Tool-Title List with live links and other documents to guide your review can be found below as well.
Go to learning.amplify.com and select Login with Amplify.
Enter the username and password:
Username: t.txmathk5public@tryamplify.net
Password: AmplifyNumber1
Select Amplify Desmos Math in Your Programs.
Once you’re in the program, select a grade level to explore the digital curriculum.
View this short introductory video to help you navigate the Amplify Desmos Math Texas K-5 platform.
Tip: Be sure you’re logged into the Amplify Desmos Math Texas platform (steps above) before clicking on the links in these documents.
If approved, this proposed content will be added as a Paper Resource on the Course-level tile on Amplify Desmos Math Texas and on the Caregiver Hub as an additional home resource.
If approved, these two pages will be added to the front matter of the Assessment Resource teacher ancillary.
Proposed changes to address the upper limit TEKS breakouts can be found at the link above. The notes for each citation indicate where the new content will exist, once approved.
View the full list of components for Amplify Desmos Math Texas K-5.
Access a description and ISBN’s for the K-5 Center Resources and Kits.
View the full list of contents for each K-5 Amplify Desmos Math Texas Manipulative Kit.
Your Amplify Desmos Math Experience Kit includes teacher and student materials for one sub-unit of instruction to try in your classroom. Click the orange button below to access the digital lessons for your grade.
Our structured approach to problem-based learning systematically builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understanding.
Amplify Desmos Math combines and connects conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Lessons are designed with the Proficiency Progression™, a model that provides teachers with clear instructional moves to build from students’ prior knowledge to grade-level learning.
Use the grade-specific links below to explore our interactive digital lessons. Learn more about assigning a lesson to your class using a single-session code.
In addition to the sample lessons below, you can view the Experience Kit brochure, which includes helpful print and digital navigation tips.
Support is always within reach. Our team is dedicated to supporting you throughout your review and can be reached at any time by emailing or calling us directly.
Our research
Amplify Desmos Math is a curiosity-driven K–12 program that builds students’ lifelong math proficiency. Our structured, problem-based approach builds on students’ curiosity while strategically developing math fluency and lasting grade-level understanding.
Learn more about the research behind our programs.
Amplify Desmos Math ayuda a los maestros a fomentar un aula con estudiantes entusiastas y cooperativos, partiendo de sus ideas y desarrollando diaria y firmemente los conocimientos del grado académico correspondiente de cada estudiante. For English version, please click here.
Para los grados K a 12.º
Gratuito
Una plataforma de enseñanza y aprendizaje que ofrece una colección de lecciones digitales gratuitas y herramientas para diseñar lecciones.
Más información en classroom.amplify.com
Para los grados K a Álgebra 2
De Pago
Próximamente: Un nuevo programa básico de prekindergarten a 12.º grado de Amplify y Desmos Classroom.
Amplify Desmos Math facilita tanto a los maestros como a los estudiantes la migración a un método basado en el planteamiento y la resolución de problemas, proporcionando actividades atractivas, eficaces herramientas de facilitación para el maestro y muchos apoyos para la diferenciación y la práctica.
Hemos combinado lecciones interactivas basadas en problemas con enseñanzas explícitas, refuerzos y prácticas para que los estudiantes dominen auténticamente las matemáticas. Las lecciones sientan una base sólida en cuanto a la fluidez en los procedimientos y cálculos, afianzan la comprensión de los conceptos y permiten a los estudiantes aplicar lo aprendido a situaciones del mundo real.
Amplify Desmos Math estará disponible a partir del curso escolar 2025–26. Los distritos interesados podrán probar la versión Beta a partir del otoño del 2024.
Aprovechamos los alcances tecnológicos y las lecciones de Desmos y añadimos simples pero fascinantes componentes impresos y digitales para crear un programa sin precedentes que simplifica la enseñanza.
Las lecciones digitales deben potenciar el razonamiento de los estudiantes y generar debates interesantes y productivos. Regístrese para obtener más información sobre cómo Amplify Desmos Math y Desmos Classroom incitan a los estudiantes a interesarse por las matemáticas.
Amplify presenta Math Teacher Lounge, un podcast con los presentadores Bethany Lockhart Johnson y Dan Meyer.
Feeling crunched for lesson-planning time? You’re not imagining it. A recent EdSurge report found that teachers get, on average, just 266 minutes of dedicated planning time a week—under an hour a day. And that’s before the meetings, paperwork, and “Got a minute?” queries start rolling in.
When teachers have so little space to craft high-quality interactive lessons, any tool that streamlines planning or teaching can make a huge difference.
Enter Amplify Classroom (formerly Desmos Classroom), launched for the 2025–26 school year and available for free! Already used by more than 300,000 teachers, this all-in-one platform brings together free resources for K–12 students; teacher guides and real-time teaching tools; and interactive lessons across math, literacy, and science—helping educators focus less on logistics and lesson plans and more on student engagement.
Amplify Classroom’s free teaching resources go far beyond static worksheets or “entertaining” electronics. The platform’s library of more than 1,000 lessons features a wide range of free K–12 resources, including K–5 activities, middle school science explorations, and high school math challenges. Highlights include:
These types of activities are not just engaging in the moment. They can also set the stage for lifelong math enjoyment. “I’ve been wary about making my kids not hate math,” says kindergarten teacher Martin Joyce. “No ‘drill-n-kill.’ [Now] they’re asking if they can do math on the computer before bed!”
Once you create a free teacher account, you can:
Here’s how it works in practice:
Grade 5 teacher Traci Jackson saw how these K–5 activities boosted collaboration and learning in her class: “After an audible groan when the activity was paused, students made sense of ordered pairs through a purposeful Amplify Classroom experience. One student pair wrote without any prompting!”
Amplify Desmos Math K-5 thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Each lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals.
Scroll to learn more about the program and explore sample materials.
We believe in math that motivates. Our structured approach to problem-based learning builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understandings for all students.
The program motivates students with interesting problems they are eager to solve. Teachers can spend more time where it’s most impactful: creating a collaborative classroom of learners.
Amplify Desmos Math combines the best of problem-based lessons, intervention, personalized practice, and assessments into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers. Feel free to explore our grade-level ancillary samplers to learn more about assessment and reporting, intervention, and differentiation:
mCLASS® Assessments, along with daily formative checks, measure not only what students know, but how they think. The asset-based assessment system provides teachers with targeted, actionable insights, linked to core and intervention resources. Visit our mClass Math site to learn more.
Amplify Desmos Math lessons pair problems students are eager to solve with clear instructional moves for teachers. With low-floor, high-ceiling tasks every student can actively participate and be a part of the math community. Unit- and lesson-level core assessments give teachers data at their fingertips to guide and differentiate instruction.
Boost Personalized Learning activities help students access grade-level math through engaging, independent digital practice. Responsive Feedback adjusts to students’ work, providing item-level adaptivity to further support their learning and offer personalized differentiation. Visit our Boost Math site to learn more.
Integrated resources like Mini-Lessons, Fluency Practice, and Math Adventures provide targeted intervention on a specific concept or skill connected to the daily lesson. Extensions are also available to stretch students’ understanding.
To support multilingual/English learners, Amplify Desmos Math incorporates research-based Math Language Routines (MLRs) by providing language modality strategies like sentence frames where appropriate, both in the teacher language provided for each task and in the differentiation support section found throughout the program. For further information on math language development, please see pg. 82 of the Amplify Desmos Math Program Guide.
To support your review of Amplify Desmos Math here are links to important K-5 review resources:
Click the links in the drop-down sections below to explore sample materials from each grade. To see sample student responses, please click on the Teacher Edition pages and scroll to “Sample Student Work” (first one is about 30 pages in) or click on Intervention and Extension resources.
For helpful navigation tips and more program information, download the Amplify Desmos Math Program Guide.
You can also watch a product expert walk through a lesson and the available program components.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Counting and Comparing Objects.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
In this lesson, students apply their understanding of how to compare groups of images as they determine which group has more or fewer and then compare their strategies by guiding a bear through a path that has more mushrooms than the other.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Story Problems in Maui.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
In this lesson, students find differences when subtracting 1 and 2 from the same number by helping a frog reach a lily pad where it can eat a bug.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Adding and Subtracting.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students continue to develop fluency by finding the number that makes 10 by helping a millipede reach its favorite food – a clump of leaves!
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Concepts of Area Measurement.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students compare data represented on bar graphs with different scales by using animal stickers to create scaled bar graphs.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Size and Location of Fractions.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students choose tube lengths to connect to platform heights for hamster homes, identifying possible heights using what they know about multiples.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Fractions as Quotients.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students decompose a figure into rectangular prisms and determine the volume of the figure by adding the volumes of the individual prisms.
If you have any questions throughout your review process or need additional samples, please don’t hesitate to contact:
Alicia O’Neil
Account Executive
425-890-6103
aoneil@amplify.com
Many of today’s math classrooms are facing a perfect storm: declining scores, widening learning gaps, and growing pressure on teachers to deliver solutions. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, students are experiencing the steepest drop in math scores since 1990. EdWeek Research Center reports that a persistent gap between educational theory and day-to-day practice is putting added stress on teachers, often leaving them to navigate complex pedagogical demands without adequate support.
So how can we provide both students and teachers with the tools they need to succeed? How can math assessments and math intervention programs provide real help and drive student progress—without piling on more work?
One promising answer lies in rethinking how we assess what students know.
Traditional assessments tend to focus on correctness alone. Did the student get it right or wrong? How many points did they earn?
But this binary approach misses a lot. A skipped question could mean a tech hiccup or a moment of confusion—not a lack of understanding. A wrong answer might come at the end of otherwise solid problem-solving.
An asset-based assessment approach shifts the focus from mistakes to meaning. It looks beyond outcomes to understanding how students think—their strategies, reasoning, and partial understandings. And when teachers can see that thinking, they gain far more useful data to guide instruction and inform their math intervention program.
This approach doesn’t lower expectations—it raises the quality of insight and gives struggling students (and really all students) a better shot at meeting standards with instruction that’s tailored to their actual needs.
Every student thinks differently. Asset-based assessments help reveal individual thinking, often through short-answer or open-response formats that ask students to explain how they solved a problem.
But this shift isn’t just for students. Teachers can benefit enormously when assessments are designed to surface trends in student thinking. If 30% of a class misinterprets the same concept, that result reveals a teaching opportunity. Rather than reteach an entire unit, teachers can adjust with focused, targeted support. That means less time spent diagnosing, and more time actually helping.
And when technology in the math classroom makes this data easy to collect, analyze, and act on, teachers get a level of consistent insight that is not only helpful, but actionable.
The ultimate goal of asset-based assessments isn’t to replace performance data—it’s to enhance it. Knowing how a student got to an answer (or why they didn’t) can make all the difference in determining what to do next.
Here’s an example involving a division problem:
When real students were given this problem, they responded with answers like:
Traditional grading might stop at “correct” or “incorrect” for these responses. But when students are asked to explain their thinking, teachers can uncover a range of reasoning—from successful multiplication strategies to misunderstandings about remainders.
These glimpses into student thinking aren’t just informative—they’re transformative. They can illuminate the performance of students in a deeper, more actionable way. They can help teachers take smarter next steps, and they can help students feel understood, capable, and more like “math people” every day.
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify Desmos Math Texas K–5. This site provides the login steps and tools you need to review the program.
Watch this short introductory video to help you navigate the Amplify Desmos Math Texas K-5 platform. Then, use the login credentials below to start your online review.
The helpful Navigation Tool-Title Lists with live links and other documents to guide your review can be found below as well.
Go to learning.amplify.com and select Login with Amplify.
Enter the username and password:
Username: t.txmathk5@tryamplify.net
Password: AmplifyNumber1
Select Amplify Desmos Math in Your Programs.
Once you’re in the program, select a grade level to explore the digital curriculum.
View this short introductory video to help you navigate the Amplify Desmos Math Texas K-5 platform.
If approved, this proposed content will be added as a Paper Resource on the Course-level tile on Amplify Desmos Math Texas and on the Caregiver Hub as an additional home resource.
If approved, these two pages will be added to the front matter of the Assessment Resource teacher ancillary.
Proposed changes to address the upper limit TEKS breakouts can be found at the link above. The notes for each citation indicate where the new content will exist, once approved.
Access the full list of components for Amplify Desmos Math Texas K-5.
Access a description and ISBN’s for the K-5 Center Resources and Kits.
Access the full list of contents for each K-5 Amplify Desmos Math Texas Manipulative Kit.
Please select your grade levels below. On each site, you will find detailed information about the program’s development, a comprehensive overview of reviewer materials, and instructions on how to access the digital curriculum.
The most recent beginning-of-year data show overall progress in reading readiness for K–2 students. Insights show:
BOY: Summer instructional loss highlights the importance of quality core instruction for the youngest grades.
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BOY: More students start the school year on track for learning to read, though momentum is slow.
Amplify’s high-quality programs benefit millions of students every day using methods that are evidence-based, ESSA-aligned, and showing efficacy in a variety of contexts. Read more research and case studies and see more briefs on early literacy.
Welcome Catholic school educators,
Amplify Desmos Math thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Each math lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals.
Amplify Desmos Math supports teachers in building students’ lifelong math proficiency. The program:
Amplify Desmos Math combines the best of problem-based lessons, intervention, personalized practice, and assessments into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.
Data informs instruction. Comprehensive student profiles provide full data on students’ assets and skills, empowering teachers to provide just-in-time scaffolds throughout core instruction and targeted intervention when needed.
Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:
Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:
Click the links below to explore our interactive digital lessons, where you’ll also find print Teacher Edition and Student Edition pages for each lesson.
For helpful navigation tips and more program information, download our Grades K–5 and Grades 6–Algebra 1 program guides.
You can also watch a product expert walk through a lesson and the available program components with a lesson walkthrough video.
Amplify Desmos Math includes digital, adaptive practice that provides the personalized support a student needs to access grade-level math every day. Boost Personalized Learning activities target a skill or concept aligned to the day’s core lesson, with each student receiving personalized scaffolds based on what they already know. This technology complements daily learning and provides another layer of support to the in-lesson differentiation and instructional guidance provided to teachers. Click here to try a Boost Personalized Learning activity. More activities coming soon!
The Fluency Practice of Amplify Desmos Math uses an evidence-based approach to memory retention—spaced repetition—for the basic operations. Students around the world have answered more than 120 million multiplication questions within our application. Try it now!
Support is always available. Our team is dedicated to helping you every step of the way. Contact your dedicated Florida representative here for program access, samples, and additional information.
Jeff Rutter
Field Manager
Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties
jrutter@amplify.com
(727) 407-5801
Amanda Shelley
Account Executive
Broward County Schools
ashelley@amplify.com
(321)-693-3518
Tom Gantt
District Manager
Miami Resident
tgantt@amplify.com
(305)-546-2979
Hello NYC high school math educators!
Welcome to Amplify Desmos Math NYC Solves Regents Prep A1. This sequence of lessons is specifically designed for students who passed Algebra 1 in eighth grade but did not pass the NYS Regents exam in June. The instructional resources are accessed through the Amplify Desmos Math platform, affording students a highly engaging experience to prepare them for the January administration of the Regents by reinforcing conceptual understanding.
On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources to guide you in learning more about the course and how to get started.
Ready to jump in? This quick start guide will help you take the first steps to get started. Remember to use your NYCDOE email for access.
Amplify Desmos Math 6–A1 is based on the highly rated IM K–12™ curricula from Illustrative Mathematics, with extensive enhancements that include teacher supports, interactivity, assessments, and reporting.
The program is aligned with the expectations outlined in the New York City Department of Education Definition of Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education and the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework.
Your NYC Solves Regents Prep A1 course uses key lessons and activities from Amplify Desmos Math to prepare students for the A1 Regents.
Figuring out how to implement a problem-based learning approach to mathematics can be fun—and challenging. Rest assured that you will not be alone on this journey. Amplify will be by your side every step of the way. Our back-to-school math webinar series for K–8 administrators and teachers:
Please see the specific webinars and the recordings below to learn more!
Would you like to learn more about the NYCPS Shifts in Mathematics and enhance your understanding of each of the five shifts?
Explore how the NYCPS math shifts are transforming mathematics education from a procedural approach to a more engaging, discoverable, and connected learning experience.
Listen to the Understanding the NYCPS Shifts in Mathematics session recording.
Let’s unpack the why, what, and how to unlock every student’s mathematical mind and build math proficiency for life! In this webinar, we discuss the power of teaching our children to be skilled mathematicians through a structured approach to problem solving
Listen to the Unlocking Mathematical Minds: A Structured Approach to Problem-Based Learning session recording.
For some educators, transitioning to problem-based learning might seem daunting. There is often concern that its open-ended nature could derail students from achieving mathematical goals. However, by finding the right balance between open-ended opportunities and structured classroom activities, students can be encouraged to share their thinking while meeting key learning targets. Uncover simple shifts that educators can implement to foster open-ended student thinking while maintaining focus on mathematical instructional goals.
Listen to the Making the Shift to Problem-Based Learning session recording.
Learn More and Experience Amplify Desmos Math LIVE, an NYCPS Approved Math Curricula.
This is the final session of the series. Amplify Desmos Math New York K–A1 is math that motivates! During this session, you’ll experience a Grade 6 lesson that captures the essence of NYC Solves.
Choose from two convenient times and register below:
Digital lessons should be powerful in their ability to surface student thinking and spark interesting and productive discussions. We’ve joined forces with Desmos Classroom to bring this vision to life with a complete library of interactive, collaborative lessons.
Relevant content and interactive math tools create an intuitive and engaging student experience. Plus, working together in real-time allows students to see that communicating their ideas and learning from each other are important parts of math class.
Imagine having more visibility into your students’ mathematical thinking. Now imagine students have access to this same information. With our collaborative lesson interface and teacher dashboard, students stay engaged. What’s more, they have visibility into the thinking of their peers—exposing them to a wider variety of approaches to solving the same problem.
The two tracks for scope and sequence include ready-to-teach lessons to prepare students for the A1 Regents. Lessons come complete with slides, step-by-step teaching notes, suggested student and teacher responses, tips for incorporating instructional routines, support for developing mathematical language, and links to useful resources. Teachers can also control what slides students see, giving teachers the ability to control the pace of the lesson to suit the needs of the class.
To start using the program quickly in your classroom, check out the following onboarding videos, guide, and planning resources. They cover what you need to know to get going fast.
Amplify Desmos Math Regents Prep Course Session I
NYC Solves Regents Prep A1 is customized specifically to meet the needs of students in ninth grade preparing for the Algebra 1 Regents exam. Within each document below, you’ll find the scope and sequence with course structure and lessons.
Login instructions:
Questions? Check out this Tech FAQ for more information.
Additional support:
Amplify Desmos Math delivers the instructional power of student-centered learning in a lesson format that’s teacher-friendly and manageable.
With easy-to-follow instructional support, implementing a problem-based program is effective and enjoyable for both you and your students. Paired with the Desmos Classroom digital experience, math class becomes fun and dynamic, with plenty of opportunities for students to talk through their reasoning, work with their peers, and gain new understanding.
Every student is brilliant, and every student has brilliant mathematical ideas worth sharing and cultivating. Incorporating principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into lessons brings students’ brilliance to the forefront. UDL is a research-based framework designed to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.
Helping students develop strong, healthy, and flexible math identities is a cornerstone of our program. Throughout the curriculum, students are taught that they themselves are mathematicians, that today’s math has been shaped by a diverse range of mathematicians who deserve to be celebrated, and that learning is never finished.
Less exciting, but essential for learning: assessments. Amplify Desmos Math features a robust variety of formative and summative assessments, including readiness checks, exit tickets, quizzes, end-of-unit tests, and benchmarks aligned with New York State Next Generation Mathematics Learning Standards.
Not only do our reports reveal progress toward standard mastery, they also include details on how students performed against the standard in the past and how many encounters are yet to come. This feature alone helps teachers prioritize instruction and intervene with additional resources when necessary.
Throughout your implementation, you can reach our support team by live chat, phone, or email Monday through Friday,
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.
California educators, welcome to math that motivates. Introducing Amplify Desmos Math California, a new, curiosity-driven TK–12 program that builds lifelong math proficiency. Each lesson poses problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. Students encounter math problems they are eager to solve; teachers spend more time where it’s most impactful: creating a collaborative classroom of learners.
Scroll to learn more about the program and explore sample materials.
Amplify Desmos Math California is a TK–12 core math program designed to meet the CA Math Framework and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Offered in English and Spanish, Amplify Desmos Math California thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application through a structured approach to problem-based learning. Through engaging activities, Amplify Desmos Math California invites curiosity and math discourse into the classroom to create lifelong math proficiency.
Please scroll to learn more about the K–8 program and explore sample materials. (TK and high school materials are in development and will be available soon.)
Amplify Desmos Math California combines the best of assessment, problem-based core lessons, personalized practice, and intervention into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.
mCLASS benchmark assessments, along with daily formative checks, measure not only what students know, but also how they think. The asset-based assessment system provides teachers with targeted, actionable insights, linked to core instruction and intervention resources. Unit- and lesson-level core assessments give teachers data at their fingertips to guide and differentiate instruction. In grades 3–8, core assessments and performance tasks are designed to prepare students for success on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) testing.
Amplify Desmos Math California core lessons pair problems students are eager to solve with clear instructional moves for teachers. Each lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals. With built-in differentiation and Multilingual / English Learner support, Amplify Desmos Math California will allow every student to find success in the math classroom.
Boost Personalized Learning activities help students access grade-level math through engaging, independent digital practice. Responsive Feedback adjusts to students’ work, providing item-level adaptivity to further support their learning.
Integrated resources like Mini-Lessons, Fluency Practice, and Math Adventures provide targeted intervention on a specific concept or skill connected to the daily lesson. Extensions are also available to stretch students’ understanding.
The CA Mathematics Framework encourages a shift from power standards to thinking about math as a series of connected Big Ideas. Each Amplify Desmos Math California lesson supports one or more Big Ideas and the connections between Big Ideas. The grade-level diagram changes through the course based on the math concepts being addressed.
Each lesson highlights why the content being covered is important, how students will engage with the mathematics, and what students will do with the learning. Our lesson opener helps teachers understand the most important concepts of the lesson, and includes the Drivers of Investigation (DI), Content Connections (CC), and Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) that drive learning in each lesson.
Mathematics is not learning in isolation. Students are connected to each other’s thinking and can use math to understand the world. With accessible invitations to authentic tasks, all students can experience mathematical success. Amplify Desmos Math California provides these authentic invitations in a variety of ways:
Each unit begins with an “Explore” lesson, which allows students to engage with authentic exploration in low-floor, high-ceiling tasks. These tasks are designed in such a way that all students can access the basic mathematical concepts, but they also offer possibilities for advanced exploration and problem-solving for those ready for more complex work, promoting an inclusive and differentiated learning environment.
Our innovative course-level investigations are designed to facilitate multipart exploration. Students grapple with Big Ideas, diving deep into key concepts that encourage comprehensive understanding. Data science is infused into the approach, equipping students with a strong foundation in interpreting and applying data-driven solutions. The Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) are also a focus of our investigations, enabling students to understand and appreciate the coherence and interrelationship of Earth’s environmental systems.
In building Amplify Desmos Math California, we partnered with the English Learner Success Forum (ELSF) to provide guidance on our multilingual/English learner support for teachers. ELSF is a national nonprofit organization that advocates for high-quality instructional materials that are inclusive of multilingual learners. ELSF’s guiding documents reflect research-based instructional strategies that are critical to curriculum design and were created by researchers, linguists, and practitioners from across the country. ELSF reviewed our materials and provided directional guidance and feedback to ensure that the program fully supports multilingual/English learners.
A component of our K–5 curriculum is the engaging unit stories that interweave mathematics with real-life situations and relatable narratives. These unit stories are specifically crafted to inspire curiosity and foster a deep connection between the learner and the math concepts being explored. This unique approach not only makes learning fun and interesting, but also allows our young learners to see themselves in the math.
To help students grow their domain-specific and academic vocabulary, Amplify Desmos Math California provides embedded vocabulary routines, such as prompting teachers to use a Frayer Model. These routines allow students to make connections to new language and offer repeated opportunities to develop and refine language.
Amplify Desmos Math California recognizes the diverse language needs of our students and is designed to be inclusive. Each lesson in the program features a parallel language activity, designed to be available to all students, in the form of teacher guidance and student activities. The activities in the Math Language Development Resource has leveled ELD (Emerging, Expanding, Bridging) differentiation to support all levels of Multilingual and English Learners. This approach ensures that all students, regardless of their language skills, can participate fully, grasp the material, and excel in their mathematical journey.
Uploaded digital glossary for languages other than Spanish. Up to nine languages of translations will be provided for.
Amplify Desmos Math California will include support resources for Spanish-speaking students across TK–Algebra 1/Integrated I beginning in the 20262027 school year.
Click the links in the drop-down sections below to explore sample materials from each grade.
For helpful navigation tips and more program information, download the Amplify Desmos Math Program Guide.
You can also watch a product expert walk through a lesson and the available program components.
Get to know the content and structure of Kindergarten Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Counting and Comparing Objects.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
In this lesson, students apply their understanding of how to compare groups of images as they determine which group has more or fewer and then compare their strategies by guiding a bear through a path that has more mushrooms than the other.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 1 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Story Problems in Maui.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Centers Resources
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Intervention and Extension Resources
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
In this lesson, students find differences when subtracting 1 and 2 from the same number by helping a frog reach a lily pad where it can eat a bug.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 2 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Adding and Subtracting.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students continue to develop fluency by finding the number that makes 10 by helping a millipede reach its favorite food – a clump of leaves!
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 3 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Concepts of Area Measurement.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students compare data represented on bar graphs with different scales by using animal stickers to create scaled bar graphs.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 4 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Size and Location of Fractions.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students choose tube lengths to connect to platform heights for hamster homes, identifying possible heights using what they know about multiples.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 5 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Fractions as Quotients.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students decompose a figure into rectangular prisms and determine the volume of the figure by adding the volumes of the individual prisms.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Click the links in the drop-down sections below to explore sample materials from each grade.
For helpful navigation tips and more program information, download the Amplify Desmos Math Program Guide.
You can also watch a product expert walk through a lesson and the available program components.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 6 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from three sub-units on this site: Unit 1, Sub-Unit 1: Area; Unit 3, Sub-Unit 1: Units and Measurement; and Unit 6, Sub-Unit 1: Solving Equations.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students use equations and tape diagrams to represent seesaw situations and to determine unknown animal weights, helping them make connections between diagrams that represent equations of the form `x+p=q` or `px=q`.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 7 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from three sub-units on this site: Unit 1, Sub-Unit 1: Scaled Copies; Unit 4, Sub-Unit 1: Percentages as Proportional Relationships; and Unit 6, Sub-Unit 1: Equations and Tape Diagrams.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students solve inequalities with positive and negative coefficients to solve a variety of challenges featuring a fictional sheep who eats grass according to an inequality.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Grade 7 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from three sub-units on this site: Unit 1, Sub-Unit 1: Rigid Transformations; Unit 3, Sub-Unit 2: Linear Relationships; and Unit 6, Sub-Unit 2: Analyzing Numerical Data.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students connect points on a scatter plot with individuals in a population and rows of data in a table. The analysis of scatter plots continues with data about the eye distances and heights of robots.
An optional add-on to your Amplify Desmos Math California program, the manipulative kit provides hands-on learning tools designed to simplify and illustrate complex mathematical concepts.
Get to know the content and structure of Algebra 1 Amplify Desmos Math California.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from two complete sub-units on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Units 1–2: One-Variable Equations and Multi-Variable Equations.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math California has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Motivate students with mathematics that is both rigorous and delightful.
Students represent the solutions of a situation using a table, a graph, and multiple forms of an equation to identify multiple combinations of blocks that can help Shelley the Snail cross a gap.
For questions, samples, or more information, please contact your local Amplify Account Executive:
Erin King
Sales Director, CA
(512) 736-3162
eking@amplify.com
Northern CA
Wendy Garcia
Senior Account Executive
(510) 368-7666
wgarcia@amplify.com
Bay Area
Lance Burbank
Account Executive
(415) 830-5348
lburbank@amplify.com
Central Valley and Central Coast
Demitri Gonos
Senior Account Executive
(559) 355-3244
dgonos@amplify.com
Ventura and L.A. County
Jeff Sorenson
Associate Account Executive
(310) 902-1407
jsorenson@amplify.com
Orange and L.A. County
Lauren Sherman
Senior Account Executive
(949) 397-5766
lsherman@amplify.com
San Bernardino and L.A. County
Michael Gruber
Senior Account Executive
(951) 520-6542
migruber@amplify.com
Riverside and L.A. County
Brian Roy
Account Executive
(818) 967-1674
broy@amplify.com
San Diego County
Kirk Van Wagoner
Senior Account Executive
(760) 696-0709
kvanwagoner@amplify.com
Under 2300 students in Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, and Northern Counties
Kevin Mauser
Lead Account Executive
(815) 534-0148
kmauser@amplify.com
Under 2300 students in Southern CA, Central Coast, and Southern Central Valley Counties
Charissa Snyder
Account Executive
(720) 936-6802
chsnyder@amplify.com
We’re thrilled that you’re reviewing Amplify Desmos Math for use with your students.
We’re confident you’ll find this to be a powerful and effective program for getting all your students talking and thinking about math concepts together.
Michael Kasloff
Regional Vice President, Strategic Sales
Every student feels connected and a part of the conversation when participating in an Amplify Desmos Math lesson. And when students are actively engaged with the content, they achieve more.
The program delivers what math educators want and need:
The program delivers what school and district leaders want and need:
We’ve taken the power of Desmos’ technology and lessons and added beautiful, easy-to-use print and digital components to make a game-changing program that makes teaching a breeze.
Program components subject to change.
Program components subject to change.
Ready to explore the program? Watch our quick walkthrough video and follow these simple instructions to access your demo account.
View our help articles on running your first lesson and the Teacher dashboard for more information.
All digital (grades K–6)
The all new mCLASS Math is an online screener and diagnostic. It provides granular data, targeted grouping suggestions, teacher-led activities and places students in Boost Math.
Click here to view the mCLASS Math scope and sequence and skills coverage across grades K–6. To the right, preview a sample item and program overview information.
Support is always within reach. Our team is dedicated to supporting KIPP and can be reached at any time by emailing or calling us directly.
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Michael Kasloff Regional Vice President, Strategic Sales 862-215-4505 mkasloff@amplify.com |
Welcome to Amplify Desmos Math! Below, you’ll find links to sample lessons, scope and sequence, and more information about our AGA and Integrated high school math programs.
Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Integrated 1 are available for Beta implementations and pilots in 2025–26. Integrated 2–3 will be available for the 2026–27 school year.
Our structured approach to problem-based learning builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understandings for all students. The program thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, fluency, and application, motivating students with interesting problems they are eager to solve. Teachers can spend more time where it’s most impactful: creating a collaborative classroom of learners.
Click the link below to view the program scope and sequence.
Check out the links below to explore our interactive digital lessons. Download a navigation guide for tips on navigating the print and digital program components.
Coming in 2026–27!
Coming in 2026–27!
Support is always within reach. Our team is dedicated to supporting you throughout your review and can be reached at any time by emailing or calling us directly.
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s K–8 science programs for Oregon. This site will allow your committees to easily access grade-level teacher and student resources digitally, and experience all that our high-quality instructional materials have to offer.
Amplify Science for grades K–8 has been rated all-green by EdReports. Read the review on EdReports.
Support is always within reach. Our team is dedicated to supporting districts across Oregon and can be reached at any time by emailing HelloOregon@amplify.com or by calling us directly.
Erin Elfving-Strayhan
Senior Account Executive
Districts over 3,000 students
(971) 291-9854
Kristen Rockstroh, M.Ed.
Account Executive
Districts under 3,000 students
(480) 639-8367
Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s K–8 science programs for Jefferson County Public Schools. This site will allow your committees to easily access grade-level teacher and student resources digitally, and experience all that our high-quality instructional materials have to offer.
Want to speak to your Amplify representative for Jefferson County Public Schools? Please contact…
Monty Lammers
Senior Account Executive
(719) 964-4501
Transforming math and literacy education takes more than just tips and tricks—it requires vision, commitment, and the right support. Whether you’re rethinking early literacy skills instruction, refining math core curriculum, or fostering a culture of collaboration, you need strong leadership and proven strategies for real change to occur.
“Sustained, meaningful change doesn’t happen overnight,” said Kymyona Burk, Ed.D., a senior policy fellow at ExcelinEd and the keynote speaker at our recent Leading With Vision symposium. “It requires commitment, collaboration, and a clear vision for supporting both educators and students.”
At the symposium—which included keynotes, panels, and math and literacy tracks—education experts from across the country shared experiences navigating instructional shifts, leading curriculum implementation, and setting schools up for success. From building buy-in to making data-driven decisions, their actionable insights can empower you with the knowledge and tools to create lasting change in your district.
Read on for a recap of the core presentations. You can also watch or listen along—and, for extra credit, download the workbook to deepen your learning.
Kymyona Burk, Ed.D.
Senior Policy Fellow, ExcelinEd
In her session, Kymona Burk made the case that real student learning progress in literacy and math doesn’t come from policy alone—it requires systemic, research-based change in classrooms. Too often, schools focus on interventions for struggling students instead of strengthening core instruction to prevent gaps in the first place. She pointed to Mississippi’s success in narrowing achievement gaps as proof that evidence-based teaching, teacher support, and family engagement drive meaningful, lasting improvement.
A key factor in that success, she argued, was a firm commitment to the Science of Reading. “We have decades of research on how children learn to read, and we can’t afford to ignore it,” she said.
Burk also stressed math’s similarities to literacy when it comes to effective teaching methods. Just as students need structured, research-backed reading instruction, they also need math teaching and instructional materials that build deep understanding rather than rely on rote memorization. Achieving this, she said, requires strong materials, better teacher training, and a commitment to using data to refine strategies. The path to better outcomes isn’t a mystery—what’s needed is leadership and persistence.
Key takeaways:
Janise Lane
VP of Customer Transformation, Amplify; former Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, Baltimore City Schools
Janise Lane’s talk centered on Baltimore City Schools’ multi-year effort to implement a more effective literacy curriculum, highlighting the importance of managing both the logistical and emotional aspects of change. While the district had strong, committed educators, student performance remained stagnant, prompting a curriculum audit and a shift toward evidence-based instruction.
Lane described how to build buy-in and sustainability by ensuring that change is not dictated solely by district leadership. “We had to shift from a system where decisions were made at the top, to one where teachers, families, and community members were true decision-makers,” Lane said.
She also emphasized the need to recognize and address resistance. “Everybody approaches change differently, and it’s our job as leaders to attend to all of those emotions,” Lane said. The key to success, she noted, is creating structured pathways for implementation while remaining adaptable and open to feedback and real classroom experiences.
Key takeaways:
Patrick Callahan, Ph.D.
Educator; Founder, Math ANEX
During his talk, Patrick Callahan emphasized the ways that asset-based assessments measure not just what students don’t know, but the depths of their mathematical thinking. Instead of relying on traditional multiple-choice tests, his approach encourages open-ended responses, allowing teachers to analyze how students arrive at their answers.
Callahan noted that by looking beyond correctness to understand reasoning, teachers can better target instruction. “If all I see is that 37% of my students got an area problem right, I might think I need to reteach area,” Callahan explained. “But if I analyze responses, I see that some kids are correctly multiplying but misunderstanding overlapping rectangles, while others are actually calculating perimeter instead. That tells me exactly where to focus my instruction.”
His research also shows a correlation between students who demonstrated conceptual understanding (such as interpreting remainders in division problems) and higher performance on standardized tests—evidence that fostering deep thinking supports both engagement and achievement.
Key takeaways:
Ricky Robertson
Educator; author; consultant
“The number one influence on team effectiveness is psychological safety,” Ricky Robertson said during his symposium session. “Not how talented the individuals are, but how they interact with one another.” His talk focused on how the knowledge that one can speak up without fear of punishment or humiliation affects school culture, educator well-being, and student success, citing research such as Google’s Project Aristotle that demonstrates how high-performing teams thrive not on individual expertise but the quality of interactions among team members.
He also noted that toxic workplace dynamics—such as fear-based leadership, cliques, and bullying—contribute to burnout, disengagement, and resistance to change. Stressing that “strategies don’t transform schools, systems do,” he shared case studies of schools that changed their culture by fostering open communication, restructuring leadership teams, and implementing clear decision-making processes. Creating a safe environment isn’t just about being nice, Robertson said. Robertson noted that creating a safe environment isn’t just about being nice, but about building systems that allow educators to collaborate, support one another, and better serve their students.
Key takeaways:
Amplify Desmos Math K-5 thoughtfully combines conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Each lesson is designed to tell a story by posing problems that invite a variety of approaches before guiding students to synthesize their understanding of the learning goals.
Scroll to learn more about the program and explore sample materials.
We believe in math that motivates. Our structured approach to problem-based learning builds on students’ curiosity to develop lasting grade-level understandings for all students.
The program motivates students with interesting problems they are eager to solve. Teachers can spend more time where it’s most impactful: creating a collaborative classroom of learners.
Amplify Desmos Math combines the best of problem-based lessons, intervention, personalized practice, and assessments into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers. Feel free to explore our grade-level ancillary samplers to learn more about assessment and reporting, intervention, and differentiation:
mCLASS® Assessments, along with daily formative checks, measure not only what students know, but how they think. The asset-based assessment system provides teachers with targeted, actionable insights, linked to core and intervention resources. Visit our mClass Math site to learn more.
Amplify Desmos Math lessons pair problems students are eager to solve with clear instructional moves for teachers. With low-floor, high-ceiling tasks every student can actively participate and be a part of the math community. Unit- and lesson-level core assessments give teachers data at their fingertips to guide and differentiate instruction.
Boost Personalized Learning activities help students access grade-level math through engaging, independent digital practice. Responsive Feedback adjusts to students’ work, providing item-level adaptivity to further support their learning and offer personalized differentiation. Visit our Boost Math site to learn more.
Integrated resources like Mini-Lessons, Fluency Practice, and Math Adventures provide targeted intervention on a specific concept or skill connected to the daily lesson. Extensions are also available to stretch students’ understanding.
To support multilingual/English learners, Amplify Desmos Math incorporates research-based Math Language Routines (MLRs) by providing language modality strategies like sentence frames where appropriate, both in the teacher language provided for each task and in the differentiation support section found throughout the program. For further information on math language development, please see pg. 82 of the Amplify Desmos Math Program Guide.
To support your review of Amplify Desmos Math here are links to important K-5 review resources:
Click the links in the drop-down sections below to explore sample materials from each grade. To see sample student responses, please click on the Teacher Edition pages and scroll to “Sample Student Work” (first one is about 30 pages in) or click on Intervention and Extension resources.
For helpful navigation tips and more program information, download the Amplify Desmos Math Program Guide.
You can also watch a product expert walk through a lesson and the available program components.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Counting and Comparing Objects.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
In this lesson, students apply their understanding of how to compare groups of images as they determine which group has more or fewer and then compare their strategies by guiding a bear through a path that has more mushrooms than the other.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Story Problems in Maui.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
In this lesson, students find differences when subtracting 1 and 2 from the same number by helping a frog reach a lily pad where it can eat a bug.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Adding and Subtracting.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
In this lesson, students find differences when subtracting 1 and 2 from the same number by helping a frog reach a lily pad where it can eat a bug.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Concepts of Area Measurement.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students compare data represented on bar graphs with different scales by using animal stickers to create scaled bar graphs.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Size and Location of Fractions.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students choose tube lengths to connect to platform heights for hamster homes, identifying possible heights using what they know about multiples.
Planning and instructional guidance is visual, organized, and easy-to-follow. To help you review the program, we have included samples from a complete sub-unit on this site: Unit 2, Sub-Unit 1: Fractions as Quotients.
Explore our digital experience! Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math has student print materials and digital recommendations.
Engaging, hands-on games for students to play collaboratively to strengthen their understanding of key skills and concepts.
Additional resources to reinforce and extend key concepts, including Mini-Lessons and Extensions.
Students decompose a figure into rectangular prisms and determine the volume of the figure by adding the volumes of the individual prisms.
If you have any questions throughout your review process or need additional samples, please don’t hesitate to contact:
Alicia O’Neil
Account Executive
425-890-6103
aoneil@amplify.com
Amplify Desmos Math New York supports teachers in building students’ lifelong math proficiency. The program:
Picture a classroom where students are so engaged in a math lesson that they protest when the teacher pauses their work on a problem. A classroom is buzzing with the sounds of natural curiosity. This is what we regularly see with Amplify Desmos Math. This is math that motivates.
Experience the beautiful, easy-to-use print components that add to the power of Desmos Classroom technology and instruction by downloading the print samplers below. The samplers include print pages from Amplify Desmos Math New York lessons.
Grade 1
Grade 3
Grade 5
Experience the beautiful, easy-to-use print components that add to the power of Desmos Classroom technology and instruction by downloading the print samplers below. The samplers include print pages from Amplify Desmos Math New York lessons.
Grades 6–8
Mini-Lesson sampler
Grade 6
Teacher Edition sampler
Student Edition sampler
Assessment Guide sampler
Grade 7
Teacher Edition sampler
Student Edition sampler
Assessment Guide sampler
Grade 8
Teacher Edition sampler
Student Edition sampler
Assessment Guide sampler
Explore our digital program to review content from grades K–8. Watch our quick walkthrough videos for helpful navigation tips: Grades K–5 and Grades 6–8.
To log in, click the orange “Review now” button below, select “Log in with Amplify” and use the following login credentials:
Username: t1.ny-state-adm@demo.tryamplify.net
Password: Amplify1-ny-state-adm
Once you’ve logged in to your reviewer account, download the documents correlating Amplify Desmos Math New York to the New York State Next Generation Math Learning Standards.
Amplify Desmos Math includes digital, adaptive practice that provides the personalized support a student needs to access grade-level math every day. Boost Personalized Learning activities target a skill or concept aligned to the day’s core lesson, with each student receiving personalized scaffolds based on what they already know. This technology complements daily learning and provides another layer of support to the in-lesson differentiation and instructional guidance provided to teachers. Try out free Boost Personalized Learning activities.
The Fluency Practice of Amplify Desmos Math uses an evidence-based approach to memory retention—spaced repetition—for the basic operations. Students around the world have answered more than 120 million multiplication questions within our application. Try it now!
Support is always within reach. Our team is dedicated to supporting you throughout your review and can be reached by email or phone 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.
Amplify Desmos Math New York supports teachers in building students’ lifelong math proficiency. The program:
[New!] The following additional program content has been added to this site to support your review of the program:
Picture a classroom where are so engaged in a math lesson that they protest when the teacher pauses their work on a problem. A classroom is buzzing with the sounds of natural curiosity. This is what we regularly see with Amplify Desmos Math. This is math that motivates.
Information about the program and highlighted content was prepared in response to New York City’s curriculum request for K–5 math programs. Easily explore the PDF resources below for grades 1, 3, and 5. Ancillary samplers include sample assessment resources, information on reporting tools and personalized learning, mini-lessons, and Centers resources.
Grade 1
Grade 3
Grade 5
Explore our digital program to review content from all grades, K–5. Watch our quick walkthrough video for helpful navigation tips. To log in, click the orange “Review now” button below, select “Log in with Amplify” and use the following login credentials:
Username: t.nycadmsample-01@tryamplify.net
Password: AmplifyNumber1
[New!] Review access now includes one additional complete unit for Grades 1, 3, and 5.
To log in as a student, use the following credentials (you must first log out if you have already logged in as a teacher):
Username: s.nycadmsample-01@tryamplify.net
Password: AmplifyNumber1
To learn more about Amplify Desmos Math New York, including pedagogical philosophy, origins, implementation examples, and independent, nationally-recognized reviews, download the following documents:
Once you’ve logged in to your reviewer account, download our program scope and sequence and a document correlating Amplify Desmos Math New York to the New York State Next Generation Math Learning Standards.
Grades K–5 standards correlation
The program is well aligned with the expectations outlined in the New York City Department of Education Definition of Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education and the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework. Download the CR-SE alignment.
The program is also well aligned with the research-informed math practices outlined in the New York City Public Schools Shifts in Mathematics. Download the program’s alignment to the Shifts in Mathematics.
Amplify Desmos Math includes digital, adaptive practice that provides the personalized support a student needs to access grade-level math every day. Boost Personalized Learning activities target a skill or concept aligned to the day’s core lesson, with each student receiving personalized scaffolds based on what they already know. This technology complements daily learning and provides another layer of support to the in-lesson differentiation and instructional guidance provided to teachers. Try out a sample Boost Personalized Learning activity.
The Fluency Practice of Amplify Desmos Math uses an evidence-based approach to memory retention—spaced repetition—for the basic operations. Students around the world have answered more than 120 million multiplication questions within our application. Try it now!
Support is always within reach. Our team is dedicated to supporting you throughout your review and can be reached at any time by emailing or calling us directly.
As a math teacher, you work every day to celebrate student brilliance, build deep conceptual understanding, and create the conditions for every student to be successful.
We’re here to help.
Grades 3+
Free
A teaching and learning platform offering a collection of free digital lessons and lesson building tools
Learn more at teacher.desmos.com
Grades 6–8, Algebra 1
Paid
A year-long, blended middle school math curriculum delivered through the Desmos Classroom platform
Learn more amplify.com/desmosmath
Grades K–Algebra 2
Paid
Coming Soon: A new core PreK–12 program from Amplify and Desmos Classroom
Amplify Desmos Math taps into students’ natural curiosity from the start of every lesson. When students are presented with age-appropriate, interactive, social learning experiences, spaces open up for creative thinking in which they can fully engage with interesting and important math ideas.
Every student feels connected and a part of the conversation when participating in an Amplify Desmos Math lesson. And when students are actively engaged with the content, they achieve more.
The program delivers what math educators want and need, including:
The program delivers what school and district leaders want and need, including:
We’ve taken the power of Desmos’ technology and lessons and added beautiful, easy-to-use print and digital components to make a game-changing program that makes teaching a breeze.
Digital lessons should be powerful in their ability to surface student thinking and spark interesting and productive discussions. Sign up to learn more about how Amplify Desmos Math and Desmos Classroom bring all students into the math conversation.
Amplify presents the Math Teacher Lounge, a podcast with hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer.
We’re proud to announce we recently submitted our core math program, Amplify Desmos Math Texas K-5, for the state IMRA review! It will be ready for implementation in Texas schools for the 2026-27 school year. In the meantime, explore some of our free Desmos Classroom activities to get a feel for what’s to come in the core program!
But you don’t have to wait to start implementing our Texas math suite! mCLASS Math Texas K-5, our robust math screener and Boost Math K-5, our new personalized instruction and intervention program, are ready to purchase now and implement in the 2025-26 school year!
Click below to learn more.
Picture a classroom where students are so eagerly engaged in a lesson, they wish it wouldn’t end. The room is buzzing with the sounds of natural curiosity. This is what an Amplify Desmos Math Texas classroom looks and sounds like. This is math that motivates.
Amplify Desmos Math Texas combines and connects conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Lessons are designed with the Proficiency Progression™, a model that provides teachers with clear instructional moves to build from students’ prior knowledge to grade-level learning.
Amplify Desmos Math Texas combines the best of problem-based lessons, intervention, personalized practice, and assessments into a coherent and engaging experience for both students and teachers.
Data informs instruction. Comprehensive student profiles provide full data on students’ assets and skills, empowering teachers to provide just-in-time scaffolds throughout core instruction and targeted intervention when needed.
We believe that math class is a place where teachers can elicit, celebrate, and build on their students’ interesting ideas. Those ideas fuel meaningful classroom conversations and drive the learning process.
A variety of performance data in Amplify Desmos Math Texas provides evidence of student learning, while helping students bolster their skills. With explicit guidance on what to look for and how to respond, teachers can effectively support students as they develop their understanding.
Integrated mCLASS® Assessments go beyond accuracy to reveal students’ math thinking through an asset-based approach. This data provides better insights about what students know, what math assets to leverage, and where students need support.
Teachers and administrators have visibility into what students know about grade-level math with a variety of data reports. By evaluating not only what students know about grade-level math but also providing insight into how they think, teachers can confidently plan whole-class instruction and targeted intervention.
Amplify Desmos Math Texas provides teachers with lessons, strategies, and resources to eliminate barriers and increase access to grade-level content without reducing the mathematical demand of tasks.
Teachers are provided with clear student actions to look for, matched with immediately usable suggestions for how to respond to student thinking. Each lesson also includes recommendations for resources to use with students to support, strengthen, and stretch their understanding of the lesson goal.
Boost Personalized Learning™ activities in Amplify Desmos Math Texas target a skill or concept aligned to the day’s core lesson, with each student receiving personalized scaffolds based on what they already know. Activities adapt to each student’s unique needs.
Amplify Desmos Math Texas Mini-Lessons are aligned to the most critical topics throughout a unit and provide targeted intervention for small groups of students who need additional support or need more time.
The Science of Reading is complex, so your understanding of it should be, too. That’s why our resource pages break it all down for you, from word recognition and comprehension to dyslexia and Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports. Equip yourself with the knowledge you need to make the greatest difference to your students!
Learn the ins and outs of the Science of Reading—what it means, and why its principles matter.
Listen to the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading.
Achieve next-level literacy growth with a cohesive Science of Reading suite.
We’ve helped thousands of Science of Reading champions make the shift, and they’re eager to share the secrets of their long-term success with fellow educators like you.
Get on-demand professional development to build and refine your toolkit of Science of Reading resources and instructional practices.
Nominate a literacy changemaker for our prestigious Science of Reading Star Awards!
Fortify your Science of Reading implementation using essential data and a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS).
Educational change doesn’t happen overnight, or by itself. We’ll walk you through the process to help you make literacy success a lasting reality in your classroom.
Learn the ins and outs of the Science of Reading—what it means, and why its principles matter.
Discover how assessment and instruction grounded in the Science of Reading helps identify children at risk of developing dyslexia at the earliest possible moments, creating the widest opportunity for intervention.
Learn everything you need to know about Science of Reading instruction with Amplify’s Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast Susan Lambert.
Multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs) bring unique strengths to classrooms, enriching the learning experiences for all.
At Amplify, we empower educators with tools that honor the strengths and capabilities of ML/ELs. Our curriculum and assessments meet students where they are and help them develop their skills, propelling them on their learning journeys.
Amplify supports ML/ELs across all subjects, from English language arts to math and science. For students who speak Spanish, we also provide a comprehensive biliteracy suite.
Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a K–5 core curriculum built on the science of how students learn to read and write. Amplify CKLA supports ML/ELs in a variety of ways.
In addition to core instruction, Amplify CKLA provides lesson supports for Entering/Emerging, Transitioning/ Expanding, and Bridging levels.
Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These resources are suitable for all learners, including ML/ELs.
The digital Sound Library easily facilitates sound development through videos showing mouth movements and songs that help students practice articulating new sounds with catchy lyrics.
Amplify CKLA boosts language development with complex read-alouds, interactive discussion, writing activities, and explicit teaching of academic and domain vocabulary.
Amplify CKLA pairs with Amplify Caminos, its companion K–5 Spanish literacy program that supports biliteracy instruction.
Language Studio, Amplify CKLA’s dedicated K–5 English language development companion program, offers daily 30-minute lessons to help ML/ELs practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Aligned to the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) framework, Language Studio previews and reinforces language and content from core instruction, so that ML/ELs of all proficiency levels are able to access grade-level content as they develop academic English.
Language Studio provides opportunities for classroom discussions, oral presentations, and writing tasks, promoting comprehension and learning by connecting with students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Interactive vocabulary and academic language support is provided before each lesson to deepen students’ understanding of text.
Students can preview content, interact with physical materials, compare text types, receive explicit grammar instruction, and have access to extensive vocabulary exercises.
Language Studio facilitates evaluation with an understanding of what students should produce at each level.
mCLASS® is an all-in-one system for Science of Reading-based universal screening, dyslexia screening, and progress monitoring for grades K–6. Powered by DIBELS 8th Edition, mCLASS provides valuable data on your ML/ELs’ literacy in English, helping you build a robust system of tiered supports. With a single tool, you can access the data and instructional support you need for each student’s literacy development, from phonics to comprehension, catering to all readers, from beginner to advanced.
mCLASS’s one-minute measures and dyslexia screening identify risk as early as possible, providing you with the right data to make informed decisions.
mCLASS provides specific language guidance, offers ML/EL instructional strategies, and considers each student’s unique language background, never penalizing for language variety, accent, or articulation, and extending this understanding into small-group practices.
Understand student performance through direct observation and detailed reports which offer growth insights, including district-wide student achievement data that can be filtered by EL status, Home Language, or English Proficiency status.
mCLASS pairs with mCLASS Lectura, an authentic Spanish literacy assessment for K–6 that measures key foundational skills and supports Spanish-speaking bilingual students.
mCLASS Intervention is our K–6 reading intervention program, designed to support you in providing effective Tier 2 and 3 instruction and getting readers on track. mCLASS Intervention does the heavy lifting of data analysis and lesson planning for you. This lets you focus on what you do best: teaching the skills each student needs to become a confident reader.
Lessons are equipped with best practices and guidance targeting language and literacy development for ML/ELs. The program also includes materials and resources that make content accessible to Spanish-speaking students.
Once groups are formed, mCLASS Intervention determines the ideal focus for each group and automatically prepares two weeks of targeted lessons.
Track student growth with reliable progress-monitoring tools and reporting that provides a clear view of each student’s progress.
A key component of Amplify’s early literacy suite, Boost Reading is a personalized learning program for K–5 that offers comprehensive targeted practice, built-in benchmark assessments, and powerful reporting. Boost Reading provides practice in the full progression of key phonics and comprehension skills critical to literacy development.
Boost Reading works. Results of a year-long study show that students in grades K–5—including ML/ELs—who used Boost Reading for 30 minutes a week significantly outperformed their peers.
Reinforce core instruction with explicit practice in phonics and phonological awareness. Boost Reading is the only program that focuses on comprehension processes—what readers do while reading that allows them to make sense of text—which is especially beneficial for ML/EL students.
Boost Reading includes specific scaffolds and supports—such as a modeling of mouth formations for articulation—that are proven to be beneficial for ML/ELs.
Targeted morphology practice for independent vocabulary building and explicit instruction with Tier 2 vocabulary words are proven to be supportive for ML/ELs.
Boost Reading pairs with Boost Lectura, a Spanish literacy program for K–2 that provides students with personalized practice to develop Spanish literacy skills.
With Amplify ELA, students learn to tackle any complex text and make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find relevance for themselves. Amplify ELA is a grade 6–8 English language arts program designed to bridge language gaps and enhance learning for ML/ELs. With integrated supports in every lesson, Amplify ELA empowers educators to deliver grade-level content while maintaining rigorous standards, thus reducing barriers to language acquisition and boosting student success.
Background documents (in English and Spanish) establish context and support comprehension before students begin to read. Features such as audio assessments, read-aloud, and Reveal words ensure that all students have the opportunity to engage with and understand grade-level materials.
Simplified language, sentence starters, word banks, and visual cues offer the necessary levels of support to help students meet their writing goals.
Available in 11 languages—English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese—these glossaries support vocabulary development and comprehension.
Amplify Desmos Math is a new, curiosity-driven K–12 program that builds students’ lifelong math proficiency. Every lesson in Amplify Desmos Math includes opportunities for all students to develop mathematical language as they experience the content, while providing intentional support for ML/ELs. We purposefully progress language development from lesson to lesson and across units by supporting students in making their arguments and explanations stronger, clearer, and more precise.
Supports for ML/ELs are called out at intentional points within each lesson. These specific, targeted suggestions support ML/ELs with modifications that increase access to a task, or through development of contextual or mathematical language (both of which can be supportive of all learners). ML/EL supports may also be attached to Math Language Routines.
Math Language Routines are used within lessons to highlight student-developed language and ideas, cultivate conversation, support mathematical sense-making, and promote metacognition. Tips for facilitating MLRs are included when they would be helpful within lessons.
Language goals attend to the mathematics students are learning, and are written through the lens of one (or more) of four language modalities: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Units and lessons start by surfacing students’ language for new concepts, then building connections between their language and the new vocabulary for that unit. This honors the language assets that students bring into their learning.
Amplify Science is a curiosity-driven science curriculum that empowers students to Do, Talk, Read, Write, and Visualize like scientists. Through phenomena-based, literacy-rich, and interactive learning experiences, it develops students into critical thinkers who will gain the skills they need to solve real problems in their communities and the world. For students who need additional support, Amplify Science provides specialized instructional approaches, activities, and resources that take into account English learners’ level of language proficiency.
Amplify Science leverages background knowledge, capitalizes on student knowledge of language, provides explicit instruction about the language of science, gives students opportunities with scaffolded practice, and enables students to access science content and express science knowledge through a multimodal approach.
Our multimodal instructional approach caters to diverse learning needs and promotes active engagement for all learners.
Amplify Science honors multilingualism as students are invited to share in their native language at strategic points in instruction. Teacher-led instruction on cognates and a multilingual glossary in 10 languages offer additional support.
Carefully translated materials use academic Spanish, with attention to consistency and grade-level appropriate language, to support language development.
Discover a suite of Spanish literacy curriculum and assessment programs designed to build confident readers with Amplify Caminos, mCLASS Lectura, and Boost Lectura. Amplify’s biliteracy suite includes assessment, core instruction, and personalized learning built on the Science of Reading.
All of the programs in our literacy suite and our biliteracy suite are designed to support and complement each other. Learn more about our related programs:
Are you a Amplify Classroom super user or a math teacher who loves incorporating technology to improve the teaching and learning process? If so, consider applying to join the next Desmos Classroom Fellows cohort!
Applications will open Winter 2025. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at desmoseducators@amplify.com.
Applications will open Winter 2025. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at desmoseducators@amplify.com.
Help shape Amplify products.
Educators and students are at the center of what we do. That’s why we test our products with real users, visit classrooms across the country, and gather ideas and feedback from educators like you! This is how we ensure that we’re developing new products that meet your needs, as well as continuously improving our existing products to better support your classrooms.
That’s where our User Research Community comes in. This is a group of valued educators we look to for their expertise! They regularly participate in research and feedback opportunities and share their insights with our Product teams.
We hope you’ll consider joining Amplify’s User Research Community. When we have a study that’s a good fit for you, our team will reach out with details and next steps.
Help influence and improve Amplify products by sharing your feedback and ideas
Learn about new products and features that Amplify teams are working on
Share your thoughts and feedback directly with Amplify product development teams
Receive incentives as a thank you for your time
When you sign up to join the Amplify User Research Community, we’ll ask you some questions that will help us match you with research studies. When an opportunity sounds like a good fit, we’ll send you an email and share the details up front, such as study topic, research format, time commitment, and compensation. Then, you can decide if you’d like to participate.
We’re looking for all types of educators to join our User Research Community: new Amplify users, power users, and everyone in between. We’re also looking for people who don’t use our products. If you work in a school setting or support schools, we want to hear from you. Here are some of the people we’d love to connect with:
We have a separate research program for K–12 students. Learn more about our Playtesting program below.
Amplify runs a variety of research studies, and we’ll include the details of the study in our email. When you participate in one of our studies, you might be invited to:
The information you provide will only be used to match you with suitable research studies and won’t be shared or sold to external parties. All data is stored on a secure server. See our Privacy Policy for more detail.
Amplify’s goal is to design welcoming product experiences. To do this well, it’s important for us to get feedback from everyone. We collect demographic information to help ensure that study participants represent the educators, students, and school environments we serve. All questions are optional and your information is kept confidential in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
You can opt out at any time by clicking unsubscribe in any of our research emails.
We typically offer e-gift cards as a way of saying thank you to those who participate in our research studies. We’ll include the exact details of the thank-you gift in the email invitation for the session. If your session is eligible for a thank-you gift card, you should receive it within five business days after completing your session. Please note that not all study participants will receive a thank-you gift.
A fun and empowering experience for kids
Students in our Playtesting Program provide feedback on new Amplify games and features as they’re being developed. Our researchers work one-on-one with students for 30 minutes at a time, inviting them to interact with new games and designs and gathering their feedback. We then integrate that feedback directly into our product development. It’s a chance for students to share their thoughts and ideas and have a real impact on the programs we’re building.
Who can participate?
Any students in kindergarten through grade 12 this school year can be part of our playtesting program, with parental permission.
What are the perks?
Aside from a fun time and a sneak peek at what’s in development, all students receive a $20 Amazon gift card for participating in a playtesting session.
When, where, and how do kids participate?
When playtesting needs arise, our User Research team will reach out to parents/caregivers to schedule a Google Meet session at a time that’s convenient for you and your child.
How can I sign my child up?
To enroll your student, please fill out this consent form. Your child will then be added to our playtesting program database. When a playtesting opportunity arises that we think would be a good fit, we’ll reach out!
We’re proud to showcase our amazing team of Amplify Education Ambassadors! These innovative educators are the heart of Amplify, representing a wide range of backgrounds and expertise. They are teachers and leaders who understand the impact of using our programs and care about supporting other educators and their students.
Learn more about each of these innovative educators and the essential work they do.
Save the date
Get ready for an unforgettable New Fellows Orientation event in Dallas, Texas! Come join a community of math enthusiasts (yes, that’s you!) and immerse yourself in an exciting journey of professional learning, jam-packed with enriching collaboration, thoughtful mentorship, new friends, and a whole lot more.
This interactive retreat for new Desmos Classroom Fellows will be held at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel July 15–17.
During the New Fellows Orientation, you will:
Logistics:
Please plan to arrive for the meeting by noon on Tuesday, July 15.
Participants will be provided lunch and dinner on July 15 and all meals on July 16. Attendees may depart on Thursday, July 17.
Lodging costs for July 15 and July 16 at the on-site hotel will be covered by Amplify. Travel costs are the responsibility of each attendee.
With test scores and student engagement on the decline, it’s clear that traditional teaching methods aren’t meeting the needs of all of today’s math learners.
One solution that’s gaining momentum is problem-based learning. By focusing on real-world problems and structured approaches, this approach develops critical thinking, reasoning, and application—skills that are essential for math success.
But making this shift isn’t easy. For math teachers and educators, it requires careful planning, a clear strategy, and community commitment.
That’s why we’re here to help.
The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results show a sharp decline in math proficiency across grade levels. Only 26% of eighth graders performed at or above the NAEP Proficient level in 2022. These results represent the largest score declines in NAEP mathematics at grades 4 and 8 since initial assessments in 1990. The pandemic didn’t help, but it’s not the only factor.
This downward trend is compounded by a sense of disengagement. According to YouthTruth’s report Making Sense of Learning Math: Insights from the Student Experience, only half of students feel that what they’re learning in math connects to the real world. Recent survey data also shows that less than half of U.S. students feel that they “often” or “always” work on interesting problems in math class.
When math feels irrelevant or intimidating, students disengage—and the learning gaps that follow can be difficult to close.
But the data also includes opportunities. According to NAEP research, more than 70% of students report that they enjoy activities that challenge their thinking and thinking about problems in new ways.
Problem-based learning helps give those students what they want.
And in a world that relies increasingly on data, analysis, and innovation, students need to learn not just how to follow steps and apply formulas, but how to think mathematically. In other words, problem-solving skills need to be part of student learning. This is particularly important in elementary and middle school math, where foundational concepts are built—and where students have the chance to forget their identities as “math people.”
That’s why working to infuse problem-based math learning into your district’s instruction can help reverse negative math and engagement trends.
Let’s go back and define this approach more fully. Research shows that math instruction is most effective when it encourages students—individually or grouped with peers—to grapple actively with math problems. When instruction gives students the opportunity and freedom to solve problems, rather than dictating solutions and then having them practice, students are more motivated.
For example, instead of memorizing the formula for calculating area and then practicing it in a series of disconnected problems, students might tackle a problem-solving challenge like:
How much paint is needed to cover our classroom walls?” Or they might work on a broader question such as: “How can we design a park, taking into account constraints like space, cost, and accessibility?
At its core, problem-based learning values mathematical thinking and reasoning. Rather than focusing on procedures and memorization, problem-based learning encourages students to:
In the problem-based learning classroom, students are positioned as active participants in their math experiences, building a deeper understanding of concepts as they work through challenges. This is particularly critical for ensuring students don’t just learn math, but understand why it works and how to apply it. These approaches can transform math classrooms into spaces where students build both foundational and real-world math skills—and a healthy dose of math confidence, too.
Integrating problem-based learning into traditional math teaching can feel like (and is!) a big change—in lesson-planning, mindset, and more.
To make it work for administrators, teachers, and students alike, schools do best when they focus on a few critical factors. These include:
While problem-based learning offers proven benefits, it can be difficult to integrate into the classroom without a clear structure. Teachers need tools and strategies to guide students through the process and ensure that learning goals are met.
A structured approach to problem-based learning in math should include:
This structured approach not only improves students’ conceptual understanding, but also aligns with Amplify’s research findings, which show that students who engage in active learning outperform their peers in more traditional settings.
By embracing problem-based learning in math classrooms, educators can:
If you’re ready to explore how your school can make the shift to problem-based learning in math, our new change management ebook is the perfect place to start. It offers practical guidance, real-world examples, and a deeper look at the strategies highlighted above.
Download the ebook now to discover actionable insights and strategies to help make problem-based learning come alive in your math classrooms.
K—12 math instruction has come a long way from having students memorize times tables. Thanks to innovative instructors like Howie Hua, it’s gone all the way to TikTok. And it’s gone viral.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer recently talked to Howie Hua on Math Teacher Lounge—now a podcast!
Howie Hua is a lecturer at Fresno State. He teaches math to future elementary math teachers. That’s a good thing, because he doesn’t just make math “come alive.” He makes it go viral.
He has more than 32,000 followers on TikTok (@howie_hua), where his brief, punchy math explainer videos have garnered nearly 500,000 likes.
That’s why Bethany Lockhart Johnson was so excited to talk to him on the podcast, she says. “He is inviting us to think about how we ask questions in mathematics in ways that get people buzzing. His ideas and thoughts have gone viral and people are in conversation in a way that we long for them to be, out in the streets shouting about mathematics.”
(Fun fact: Hua can also throw a rifle 15 feet in the air, do a back flip, and catch it. Don’t believe us? Check out his TikTok.)
“I think people don’t want to watch a 20-minute YouTube video on something math-related. Maybe they just want a short one-minute explainer,” says Hua.
Even in one minute, Hua shines new light on math functions and concepts—and more.
“People want to understand what’s actually happening,” says Hua. “For example, I got so many nice comments when I explained the long division algorithm. I said, ‘Let’s visualize it.’ It’s not just connecting the permutation and the combination formulas. People want to know what’s happening rather than just ‘Use this formula to get an answer.’”
Dan Meyer shares a couple of Hua’s most popular TikToks:
Hua says that to ask “Hey, how would you think about this?” does more than give him insight. Asking questions helps build community, and shows people that there are many ways to arrive at an answer.
Says Hua: “It really goes to show that math is a creative subject. ‘Hey, can we find another way? What’s another way that we can do this?’ I tell my students, the beauty is in us, not the final answer.”
Here’s Hua’s Math Teacher Lounge challenge for this episode:
Bonus: Did you do the daily Wordle before you read this post? You might have learned something about teaching math—listen to the podcast to find out why (and to hear why on earth Dan Meyer would start his guesses with “PYGMY”)
The Math Teacher Lounge podcast is available on all major streaming platforms and on mathteacherlounge.com. Math Teacher Lounge is presented by Amplify and Desmos. Visit Amplify’s website to find out more about Amplify Math.
Many of us grew up with word problems as a part of math instruction, but we now know that students learn better when problems are more than just a part of learning. In fact, research shows that learning based on problem solving sets math students up for long-term success.
What’s the problem with word problems? So-called “show-and-tell” pedagogies often rely on teachers demonstrating how to solve math problems, which doesn’t produce the kind of sticky learning that puts students on a path to long-term success.
As a result, too few students are prepared for Algebra I. Even fewer go on to succeed in the high school math courses that are prerequisites for college and for careers that require quantitative skills.
Research published in Frank Lester’s 2003 book Research and Issues in Teaching Mathematics Through Problem Solving shows that instruction is more effective when the students themselves grapple actively with the math problems, working in groups or individually. This productive-struggle approach is often called problem-based learning.
In a problem-based lesson, students are introduced to a handful of interesting and often real-world problems or tasks that can be understood and/or solved by referencing background knowledge, previously learned content, and newly provided information.
These problems are designed to get students thinking about solutions they can then discuss with their peers. According to 2019 research conducted by Jack Dieckmann and Renae Skarin, this fosters both understanding of the content and math language development.
Over the course of the problem-based lesson, the teacher monitors student work, selects examples of that work to discuss with the class, and asks questions that propel the conversation and learning forward (as described by Margaret Schwan Smith and Mary Kay Stein in their 2011 book Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions.
This synthesis incorporates students’ new insights and conceptions into their bigger-picture understanding of mathematics.
There are already high-quality curricula that call for this kind of pedagogy, but this approach can be hard to implement because it requires both a shift in practice for many teachers and more active engagement from students.
That’s why the highest-quality problem-based lessons embody all eight of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Teaching Practices. Amplify Math is one of them.
Problem-based learning can put students on the path to math success. In this post, we’ll dig a little deeper into what it is, what it’s not, and teachers’ role in putting it into action.
You can read the first post in this series here.
In our previous post, we established that a problem-based math curriculum sets math students up for long-term success. We showed that lessons in a problem-based learning model introduce students to interesting and often real-world problems or tasks that require them to draw on background knowledge, previously learned content, and/or new information.
With traditional show-and-tell pedagogy, the teacher describes the procedures and formulas to answer problems and then gives students an opportunity to practice what they’ve been shown. This model is very common—most middle school and high school math teachers report using it as their primary mode of instruction.
With this approach, instruction is focused on getting answers through isolated skills and processes, so many students fail to develop the conceptual foundations required for the math to make sense. This often means students don’t know when a piece of knowledge is useful to a new, novel problem.
While teachers may be able to make a given lesson fun (for example, by turning it into a game), the math in the lesson is often uninspiring. Students may remember the game, but forget the math.
The occasional use of direct instruction is not always a bad option for teachers. Not all concepts and skills require substantial inquiry in order to stick or make sense.
But there are limits to deploying direct instruction as the primary mode of teaching. They include the following:
Algebra often presents a student with choices, as when solving an equation like 3(x + 1) = 6. Will they begin by using the distributive property to rewrite the equation as 3x + 3 = 6? Or should they begin by dividing both sides of the original equation by 3 to obtain x + 1 = 2?
With problem-based pedagogy, choices about how to solve a word problem or which calculation strategy to pick can become learning moments. If some students do it one way while other students do it another way, both groups can learn by discussing how the two methods relate.
Amplify Math lessons help teachers cultivate and structure these student conversations. The program includes easy-to-follow instructional supports that make implementing a problem-based program more effective and enjoyable for both teachers and students. The lessons are designed to elicit creative thinking and get students collaborating.
By working on problems that are intriguing, engaging, and relevant, students see how the math they are learning in class connects to their everyday lives. Students are placed into situations where they need to reason, collaborate, revise their thinking, and apply what they’ve learned.
In previous posts, we’ve established that problem-based learning sets students up for long-term success. We’ve shown that problem-based lessons introduce students to interesting and often real-world problems or tasks, and described the key role teachers play in putting problem-based learning into action.
In this post, we’ll look more closely at how teachers can support students engaging in problem-based learning, even when the students do much of their work together in groups.
You can read the first post in this series here and the second post here.
In a problem-based lesson, students are introduced to a handful of interesting and often real-world problems or tasks that can be worked out by referencing background knowledge, previously learned content, and newly provided information.
With problem-based learning, teachers transfer the responsibility of the actual learning to students. Teachers set up the activities and lessons, then students are given the right information and scaffolds to make sense of math concepts and opportunities to practice and apply their learning.
These problems are designed to get students thinking—and talking together—about solutions. This way, students begin to grapple with math content and grasp math language development.
During class, the teacher’s role is to observe students, ask questions, select and share student work, and help students synthesize their learning at the end of the lesson. That’s where teachers help students apply new insights and conceptions to their bigger-picture understanding of the math at hand.
When students do need to be taught a process directly, teachers can shift from conceptual to procedural instruction. (For example, after making sense of adding signed rational numbers, students practice to gain fluency.) In these moments, the problem-based structure is focused more directly on producing answers and debugging procedures than on new sense-making.
The highest quality problem-based lessons embody all eight of the NCTM Teaching Practices. These are:
We started with a world-class problem-based curriculum (Illustrative Mathematics’® IM K–12 Math™) and made changes to help educators implement engaging problem-based core curriculum for students. Amplify Math helps shift to planning and teaching problem-based lessons, tracking student progress, and differentiating instruction based on real-time data. We’ve made the math problems more exciting and relevant for all students, thus making it easier for all students to become active participants in their learning.
Webinar series recap, part 1 of 3
Problem-based math learning helps teachers set the stage for memorable learning experiences and transfer the responsibility for the learning to students, which has been shown to help develop students’ problem-solving and math reasoning skills.
Our webinar series explores how this type of instruction engages all students in grade-level math every day, and how instructors can go about implementing problem-based learning in the classroom. In part 1 of the webinar series, award-winning teacher Kristin Gray asks—and answers—the question: What does problem-based learning unlock for students?
Imagine you’ve just gotten a new piece of technology: a phone, a TV, a computer. How do you learn to use it? Do you read the entire user guide first? Jump in and never touch the guide? Or turn it on and try some things, referencing the guide as needed?
If the last option sounds like you, that’s very common—and it’s an example of learning through problem-solving.
“It’s something we naturally do,” says Gray. “We’ve had a phone before so we would pick up this new phone and try doing things that we know worked on our last phone, and then we would experiment: Does it work the same on this phone? This bouncing between experience and explanation is really the foundation of how we learn through problem-solving.”
If we think of instructional methods in the math classroom along a spectrum, on one end we might have a classroom where students are left to solve a problem and discover the relevant math on their own. On the other end, the instructional method might be to show students how to get the answer and then practice doing similar problems.
The methods at both extremes are challenging, and it’s hard for instructors to go from one to the other, says Gray. “We need to install a soft landing space in the middle of these extremes—and we can think of that space as learning through problem-solving, or problem-based learning.”
What does that look like in the math classroom?
Students will tackle interesting problems, raise questions about the math required, receive an explanation, and apply it back to the problem—as with the example of learning new technology.
“When we show students how to get the answer, we send the message that math is solely about answer-getting and learning processes. Answers are important, but we want to use problems to teach the math, not just teach students to get the answer,” says Gray.
Practice is also key, she adds: “This place in the middle pulls the best from both extremes and puts them into a structure that supports teachers in teaching and students in learning.”
Learning through problem-solving has the potential to engage all learners in math, says Gray. It influences the way teachers and students think of themselves as mathematicians and what it means to know and do math.
In the 2000 NAEP survey, 70 percent of fourth and eighth graders reported that they enjoy activities that challenge their thinking, and enjoy thinking about problems in new ways.
“Students are already naturally curious and like solving challenges and trying things in new ways, so that’s a great start,” says Gray.
“No matter how kindly, clearly, patiently, or slowly teachers explain, they cannot make students understand,” says Gray. “Understanding takes place in the student’s mind as they connect new information with previously developed ideas. Teachers can help, but understanding is a by-product of solving problems.”
Add understanding is motivating. It inspires perseverance and confidence. It supports making connections, not learning concepts in isolation.
When students are given a new problem and are able to use prior knowledge to help solve it, that “promotes the development of autonomous learners,” says Gray.
Amplify Math supports teachers in the planning and delivery of problem-based lessons. It also enables teachers to monitor student progress and differentiate instruction based on real-time data.
Lessons start with warm-ups that tap into prior knowledge and move into problems that require collaboration to solve. Teachers monitor, engage, and ultimately synthesize student work into the main idea. There are also ample opportunities for practice and reflection.
Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
Register to watch the rest of the series here.
Visit Gray’s site, Math Minds, here.
Our webinar series explores how problem-based learning engages all students in grade-level math every day, and how instructors can bring problem-based learning into their classrooms.
We reviewed part 1 of the series in this blog post. Now, in part 2, we dig deeper into this key aspect of problem-based learning: transferring responsibility for learning to the students.
So…now what? “If you watched Kristin Gray’s webinar,” says educator Kathleen Sheehy, “You may be thinking, ‘I learned so much about the power of problem-based learning. Where do I get started?’”
In this webinar, Sheehy joins fellow educator Ben Simon to explore how teachers can truly make that key shift toward student-centered instruction. “It is a journey. So we are going to talk about the small shifts that teachers and others can make that add up to something big,” Sheehy says.
Most adults were not taught to do math this way as kids—and many teachers were not taught to teach math this way. When teachers have a lot of content to get across in limited time, it can feel risky to shift to a style that requires a bit of letting go.
“Student-centered instruction helps us embrace the idea that people can come at math ideas from different directions,” says Sheehy. “It’s collaborative and social. It focuses on problem-solving with an emphasis on multiple strategies and flexible thinking.”
Problem-based math learning may not be the sage-on-a-stage model, where the teacher stands up front and acts as the only math expert in the room—but it doesn’t mean the teacher relinquishes control, either. You can have both student-focused instruction and solid classroom management.
“It’s not a free-for-all. It’s very structured,” says Sheehy. “The teacher also plays a role in providing instruction and then guiding their students to the key takeaways they want for them.”
To be most effective, problem-based learning needs to be not only focused on the student but supported by the community as well. This means you aren’t the only one who needs to adjust to the new approach.
What actions can you take to build stakeholder investment? How can you get the principal, other teachers, parents, and kids (who are also accustomed to another style of learning) involved and excited?
Be able to articulate a really compelling reason why student-centered instruction is right for your students. The following are just a few research-backed examples:
When the teacher is the supporter of knowledge, not the gatekeeper, students lead the learning process and feel more confidence with and connection to math, says Sheehy.
How and where do you communicate these ideas? Sheehy and Dixon have found that providing a short hands-on math experience with problem-based learning examples can be very effective. This enables stakeholders to experience the difference themselves, especially when conducted in a low-stakes scenario like a parent math night or PD training.
Sheehy also suggests asking them what they think the impact of student-centered learning would have been for them when they were students. “We’ve heard people say things like, ‘I would have been way less anxious about math if I’d learned it this way,’” she says.
“We’re not expecting to create a masterpiece overnight. It takes time to develop the teacher and student skills and to establish everything that needs to be in place,” Sheehy says, “You can’t get better at all the things all at once.”
Where to start? “Size up the shift,” she says, and make a plan.
“Using very clear look-fors can enable educators to decide where to focus,” says Sheehy. “‘What would I look for if I walked into a classroom that is beginning to engage in student-centered instruction?’”
Here are a few key elements to look for:
Sheehy and Dixon have found that a focus on these three areas helps teachers name what they are trying to improve in a systematic way.
“Once I tackle this first area and feel successful with that, I know what I’m going to tackle next, and after that,” says Sheehy. “These look-fors can help you make informed decisions that, little step by little step, can help you eventually get to where you want to be.”
Amplify Math is designed to support problem-based learning, so you’re making that shift every time you teach. The program specifically supports teachers in the planning and delivery of problem-based lessons, and enables them to monitor student progress and differentiate instruction based on real-time data.
Lessons start with warm-ups that tap into prior knowledge, then move into problems that require collaboration to solve. Teachers monitor, engage, and ultimately synthesize student work into the main idea. There are also ample opportunities for practice and reflection.
Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
Register to watch the recording.
Subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about—and watching—parts one and two of our three-part webinar series on student-centered learning. The earlier segments explored the thinking and framework behind student-centered instruction.
In this section—a sneak peek at a new lesson from Desmos Math 6–A1—we explore what it actually looks like in practice (and in a fish tank).
Read on for a look at how problem-based math instruction creates memorable learning experiences, and how you can find inspiration to do the same in your classrooms. (Impatient to find out? You can also just go straight to the full recording!)
The idea for this lesson arose from the real-life experience of Desmos Classroom engineer Carlos Diaz, who found himself in possession of a “magic” toy aquarium. (For more of the entertaining backstory, watch the demo!)
The aquarium contained small fish that grow when you add water—by up to 400%, according to the package.
Takeaway 1: We are always surrounded with inspiration for student-driven math lessons, we just have to keep our eyes open.
Takeaway 2: Green did keep his eyes open, and they were drawn immediately to that 400%. He was skeptical—”At 400% larger, will they even fit?”—and then inspired. “We need to test this thing out,” he thought.
A stream of other questions came forth: Does the scale factor apply to lengths, volumes, something else? Would the growth be linear, or exponential? (Would Carlos ever have to clean the tank?)
We can’t tell you how large the fish grew (spoiler!) but we can tell you that they did (metaphorically) bust out of their tank and into a lively math lesson.
In the lesson, students look at the toy and are asked: What do you see? What do you notice? What do you wonder?
This type of question helps form the basis of student-centered learning. Here, students are not presented with a fixed set of variables and parameters and asked to solve strictly within them. Rather, they’re presented with a relevant or real-world problem and invited to reference background knowledge, previously learned content, new information, and even imagination.
From there, a teacher can guide students to make connections between a situation in context and the type of solution or equation that might be relevant. Students can explore collaboratively why one strategy might work better than another.
In this case, a teacher can help students determine that they’ll need to calculate exponential growth (mass), and support them in deciding the best way to do so. Then, having arrived thoughtfully at an approach, they can actually solve the problem and find an answer.
In other words, teachers leading student-driven learning transfer responsibility to those students. Teachers set up the lessons and activities and then provide just enough information and scaffolding to allow students to learn and reinforce math concepts, apply knowledge, and discover new approaches.
Let’s put it this way. Science has found that—contrary to popular belief—goldfish can remember things for not just weeks or months, but years. With student-focused learning, your students will, too.
Register for a free trial for access to this and other lessons.
Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
Watch the webinar.
Subscribe to Math Teacher Lounge.
When designing daily math practice, teachers are always working to make real-world math problems fresh and relevant, find new entrance points for concepts, or simply come up with surprises. All of these approaches can be very effective.
And though it may seem counter-intuitive, so can routines.
The word routine can connote a sense of doing something mechanically, even without thinking. But teachers know that well-placed classroom routines can open opportunities for creative thought.
Routines provide a way for you and your students to build and maintain a sense of familiarity and structure throughout the school year. They also free up time teachers would otherwise spend giving directions. When students know exactly how a certain activity should run, and understand all instructions and expectations, everything goes more smoothly.
That’s why a core set of shared routines can be a powerful, practical force for establishing an effective classroom learning community..
We know routines can be effective in any classroom. Now, we also have research offering direct evidence that certain routines are particularly effective in math classrooms.
Do you want your students to have more time to think before solving and sharing about a problem?
GOAL: Provides opportunities to identify, compare, and contrast multiple strategies
TIP: During partnered discussion, consider displaying sentence frames such as, “ First they… Next they…” “Their strategy was to…” or “I see a/an… in both strategies.”.
How to do it:
We worked with our curriculum team to develop routine cards for math teachers, so you can implement routines that are part of our math program in your classroom. Most of the routines you’ll find throughout Amplify Desmos Math have been specifically proven effective in math classrooms. All of them have been adapted from established teaching practices.
We invite you to access a sample set of some of our most popular routines and decide which ones to try out in your classroom!
Download free math instructional routine cards.
Explore Desmos Classroom.
Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
It’s great news when a student who has worked hard to do their best gets a perfect score on an exacting test.
We’d like to take a brief moment to share some similar news of our own: Desmos Math 6–8 has earned perfect scores and an all-green rating from EdReports!
This is a powerful affirmation not only of our program, but also of every Desmos Math 6–8 student who benefits from the high-quality instructional materials, student-centered instruction, and thoughtful technology in the math classroom.
Here’s a bit about the program. Based on Illustrative Mathematics’ IM 6–8 Math™ and Open Up Resources, Desmos Math 6–8 features interactive, standards-aligned lessons that are easy to use and fully customizable.
The program empowers teachers with an engaging curriculum that helps them:
The technology in the program is purposeful: students are empowered to explore new ideas, and our teacher dashboard helps teachers bridge those ideas together. Whether teachers are observing student learning on our lesson summary page or guiding productive discussions with our conversation toolkit, our facilitation tools make teaching more effective and more fun.
EdReports.org is an independent nonprofit designed to improve K–12 education. Among other things, its expert reviews help equip teachers with the highest-quality instructional materials.
Their review process is necessarily individualized and rigorous. Educator teams develop rubrics and evidence guides; recruit expert reviewers with a collective thousands of years of experience; then conduct rigorous, evidence-based reviews.
The reviews collect evidence about important characteristics of high-quality instructional materials. These include the presence of standards, how well they are sequenced, and how deeply they are included.
Reviews take 4–6 months. Ultimately, multiple educators will analyze every page of the materials, calibrate their findings, and reach a unified conclusion.
And in our case, it was this: Desmos Math 6–8 received perfect scores from EdReports and met expectations for every one of their gateways.
Request a free 30-day trial today!
IM 6–8 Math™ and Illustrative Mathematics® are trademarks of Illustrative Mathematics, which is not affiliated with Amplify. Amplify is not an IM Certified Partner. EdReports and associated marks and logos are trademarks of EdReports.org, Inc.
EdReports.org is an independent nonprofit designed to improve K–12 education. Among other things, its expert reviews help equip teachers with the highest-quality instructional materials.
You might say math and tech go hand in hand. And these days, of course, kids and tech go literally hand in hand. So it makes sense that using digital tools in the math classroom can help teachers reach students, and teach the math content they need to learn. But truly integrating technology into math instruction is not just a matter of adding random gadgets and gizmos. We need to do more—especially if we want to leverage the power of math technology to engage all students.
Integrating technology into instruction delivers numerous benefits in the classroom–perhaps especially in the math classroom.
Numerous studies suggest that technology can support student learning in the math classroom. This tech might take the form of graphic calculators, digital manipulatives, or learning software. In general, such tools have been shown to help students improve both their understanding of math concepts and their performance on tests.
Thoughtful tech has these effects in part because it can make math more engaging. Students are generally more excited to dive into a visually appealing and interactive program than a black-and-white math textbook.
Integrating technology into a math classroom also means:
The most effective technology approaches in the math classroom are active, not passive. They also invite deep thinking and productive struggle rather than speed and rote memorization.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) includes this guidance in its Principles to Action:
“An excellent mathematics program integrates the use of mathematical tools and technology as essential resources to help students learn and make sense of mathematical ideas, reason mathematically, and communicate their mathematical thinking.”
The NCTM recommends that teachers: “incorporate mathematical tools and technology as an everyday part of the mathematics classroom, recognizing that students should experience ‘mathematical action technologies’ and physical or virtual manipulatives to explore important mathematics.”
Here are just a few approaches that enhance engagement:
Desmos Math 6–A1 is just that kind of program. It provides dynamic and interactive digital math learning experiences, alongside flexible and creative print activities. Its teacher dashboard is designed to encourage classroom discussion and collaboration. It invites students to explore a variety of approaches—and invites teachers to celebrate and develop interesting thinking in their classrooms.
The dashboard also shows teachers actionable formative assessment data for each student and the entire class, and allows them to leave written feedback for students in their lessons.
And we know it works. Teachers and students in our pilot program said that students learned more with Desmos Math 6–A1 than with their prior program. (See case studies in a large midwestern school district and in Naugatuck Public Schools.)
What’s more, Desmos Math 6–8 has earned perfect scores and an all-green rating from EdReports. This is a powerful affirmation not only of our program, but also of high-quality instructional materials, student-centered instruction, and thoughtful technology in the math classroom.
Can you do long division in your head and calculate tips in your sleep? Or does the mere thought of arithmetic keep you up at night?
If you fall into the latter camp, you’re not alone.
Math anxiety is real—and an established body of research proves it. In fact, data shows that math anxiety affects at least 20% of students.
And its effects can be damaging in both the immediate and long term. It can bring down student performance both in and beyond math, and in and outside the classroom.
Fortunately, we’re also learning how teachers can help students manage math anxiety—and succeed wherever it’s holding them back.
We explored this topic on a recent episode of Math Teacher Lounge, our biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. This season is all about recognizing and reducing math anxiety in students, with each episode featuring experts and educators who share their insights and strategies around this critical subject.
Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, associate professor of educational psychology at Ball State University, has been studying math anxiety for more than a decade. He joined podcast hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to share his insights.
So let’s take a look at what math anxiety is—and is not. We’ll also explore what impact it has on learning, and what we can do about it.
Math anxiety is more than just finding math challenging, or feeling like you’re “not a math person.” Dr. Ramirez offers this definition: “[Math anxiety] is a fear or apprehension in situations that might involve math or situations that you perceive as involving math. Anything from tests to homework to paying a tip at a restaurant.”
Math anxiety may cause sweating, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, and other physical symptoms of anxiety.
But while math anxiety has some similarities with other forms of anxiety, it’s exclusive to math-related tasks, and comes with a unique set of characteristics and influences.
Math anxiety can lead sufferers to deliberately avoid math. And this avoidance can not only result in a student not learning math, but also limiting their academic success, career options, and even social experiences and connections. This can look like anything from getting poor grades in math class, to tension with family members over doing math homework.
Parents and teachers can suffer from math anxiety, too. In fact, some research suggests that when teachers have math anxiety, it’s more likely that some of their students will, too.
It’s not correlated to high or low skill or performance in math. Students who generally don’t do well in math can experience math anxiety because they assume they’ll do poorly every time. Students who have been pressured to be high-achieving experience math anxiety because they’re worried they won’t meet expectations.
Other triggers may include:
Dr. Ramirez has researched the important relationship between math anxiety and working memory.
Working memory refers to the ability to hold and manipulate information in short-term memory. People with math anxiety often have poorer working memory capacity when it comes to math-related tasks. This is thought to be due to the cognitive load created by anxiety, which can interfere with the ability to manage information in working memory.
The result? A negative feedback loop. Poor working memory can lead to further math anxiety, and increased anxiety can further impair working memory.
However, it’s important to note that not all individuals with math anxiety experience a decline in working memory capacity. Some may have average or above-average working memory capacity but still experience math anxiety. In such cases, the anxiety may be related to negative beliefs about one’s ability to perform math tasks, rather than an actual cognitive deficit.
Even though math anxiety is a distinct type of anxiety, interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and mindfulness approaches have been shown to be effective in reducing it.
It starts, says Dr. Ramirez, with normalizing the anxiety.
“If you’re a student and you’re struggling with math and I tell you, ‘Yeah, it’s hard, it’s OK to struggle with math,’ that makes you feel seen. And that’s gonna lead you to want to ask me more for help, because I’m someone who understands you,” says Dr. Ramirez. “And that’s a great opportunity.”
It’s tough to do math without sets, sums, and multipliers, so it stands to reason that it’d be tough to learn math solo, outside of a group.
Indeed, research shows that math is best learned in a community. In this post, we’ll explain why that is, what it looks like in a classroom, and how you can create a community for your math students.
There are many types of math communities: online interest groups, professional organizations, the Mathletes.
In the context of a math classroom, a math community refers to the collaborative environment a teacher can create using both math strategies and social strategies (and by involving students’ parents and guardians). In a robust math community, all students feel comfortable sharing ideas, asking questions, and engaging in mathematical conversations.
In other words, math communities are student-centered. Rather than delivering information, teachers guide students. They encourage students to explore math concepts, make connections to the real world, and ask questions—of each other, and the teacher.
And in a math community, wrong answers aren’t dismissed—in fact, they’re an essential part of the learning process. In our webinar What Amazing K–12 Math Looks Like, educator and director of research at Desmos, Dan Meyer underlines the importance of students understanding “the value in their thinking—which means the value in their wrong answers.”
A community-oriented math classroom can help each student learn, and all students learn. Here’s how.
Want to know how to make math fun and build community? Here are some ways to get started.
In her research article, “Examining Key Concepts in Research on Teachers’ Use of Mathematics Curricula”, Janine Remillard described curriculum use as a dynamic and ongoing relationship between teachers and resources—a relationship shaped by both the teacher and characteristics of the resource.
I have found that while certain characteristics can make a math curriculum high-quality, it is only through its relationship with teachers that it creates truly meaningful math experiences for students.
In my own teaching experiences and now back in classrooms with teachers, I am convinced that no matter how well-constructed a lesson, it only gets better as teachers plan collaboratively and center their students.
Shaping lessons for the students in your classroom can be challenging because there is not one right way or time to adapt a lesson, and the reasons we adapt vary.
Sometimes we make relatively small tweaks to the wording of a prompt, a question the teacher should pose, or the timing of an activity.
Other times we make more substantial changes to the task or task structure in order to more clearly move toward the learning goal based on what we are seeing and hearing from students.
And then there are the times we realize in the midst of an activity we should have made an adaption in our planning.
I recently taught a 5th grade fractions lesson that provided a perfect example of the dynamic nature of the work.
This particular lesson falls at the end of the fraction addition and subtraction unit.
The Warm-Up of this lesson is a Number Talk, which made sense to the 5th grade teachers and I, given the unit focus.
We reviewed the mathematical concepts and problems in our planning session, anticipated that students might find common denominators, and agreed that the synthesis discussion around denominator choice aligned with the problems.
While we anticipated that students would successfully add, the number choices in the string led students to solve each one the same exact way, with the only difference being whether they stated their sum in simplest form or not.
Halfway through, we could see the majority of the students were getting bored and it was hard to infuse curiosity and excitement around denominator choice because students had already generalized a way of finding a common denominator—which at this point in the unit was great!
In the midst of the Number Talk, we paused and debated pivoting our focus to the problems in relation to one another rather than denominator choice. But we knew that doing that would add extra time to the lesson, when we needed the majority of the time for the activities that followed.
So we wrapped it up and moved on, knowing we had time to discuss our choice in an upcoming planning session.
After class, I couldn’t stop thinking about revisions I would make if we had the opportunity to plan it all over again. Because although the problems in the string supported mental calculation and aligned with the lesson activities, the students needed something different at this point in their learning.
After reflecting with colleagues, we decided the timing of that particular Number Talk for these students was too late in the unit and wondered if a different routine would have made it more engaging.
Using that Number Talk as a rough draft (shout out to Mandy Jansen), I played around with different number choices and routines we might use in a second take on that lesson.
If we wanted to stick with the same task structure, we could adjust the numbers to create a new Number Talk or True or False? routine that more explicitly encouraged relational reasoning and use of the properties.
For example, the following problem strings still attend to denominators when adding fractions but also open up the space for more interesting and engaging student discourse.
If we wanted to use a different structure altogether, we could try the Which One Doesn’t Belong? routine to provide opportunities for students to notice other interesting aspects.
In this activity, students share reasons why one of four items—in this case, equations—doesn’t belong. There is no single right answer because each object could both belong and not belong, depending on the student’s criteria. (If you’ve never tried this routine, it’s a must!)
Because I couldn’t wait until this lesson next year to see what students would do with one of these ideas, I asked them to write about the Which One Doesn’t Belong? The variation among their ideas was exciting.
While I could still see attention to the denominators as in the original Warm-Up, students were now describing their ideas in much more unique ways. If this had been the original Warm-Up, it’s not hard to imagine how much more engaged students would have been—and how much more teachers would have learned about their thinking.
Curriculum materials have shaped my teaching and learning since the beginning of my time in the classroom. They then became the focus of my work at Illustrative Mathematics and now in my current work at Amplify.
I am a strong advocate for high-quality curriculum materials, and at the same time, I also believe that every curriculum can always be improved to better meet the needs of students and teachers.
I continually recognize and appreciate the time I get to spend planning, teaching, and reflecting with teachers about their dynamic and ongoing relationship with curriculum materials.
These opportunities to learn from within the work of teaching are invaluable inputs to our current work at Amplify, where we have the exciting opportunity to improve the characteristics of math resources currently in schools.
Want to learn more from Kristin Gray? Watch her webinar!
Amplify’s professional development provides a variety of learning experiences over multiple years to incrementally develop and apply the knowledge and skills needed for effective and self-sustaining implementation.
Gain insights into effective instructional techniques, and develop a deeper understanding of your Amplify program(s) by investing in professional development.
Partner with members of our professional learning team to plan long-lasting and sustainable change for your school or district. Change is more likely to stick and get results with deliberate planning. We can support your through this journey to drive your professional improvement, enrich your instructional practice, and increase student impact.
Every school and district is unique. That’s why we offer flexible delivery options to best meet your specific needs and objectives.
Our professional development programs come in packages or individual sessions, available both on-site and virtually, to help you get the most out of your Amplify program(s).
You can also customize your learning experience by adding extra sessions, such as Science of Reading, supporting multiliterate learners, and a problem-based approach to math, to build on your base package.
Professional development helps teachers stay motivated and inspired to grow professionally. Demonstrate your commitment to your staff by empowering them with professional development packages that include on-site or virtual Launch, Strengthen, or Coach sessions, all of which will orient you and your team to the full features of Amplify programs.
You can also personalize your learning experience by adding enhancement sessions to base packages.
On-site and virtual Launch sessions introduce Amplify programs and support strong implementation. Self-paced, online courses are also available for select Amplify programs and include an on-demand subscription for 12-months.
After learning about the program’s foundational principles and key features, you’ll practice administering it within a collaborative environment.
On-site and virtual Strengthen sessions deepen understanding of the program. Session offerings are targeted and meant to take your practice—and your students’ learning—to the next level.
Offered as part of core packages, as well as enhancements, Strengthen sessions are intended to effectively address your students’ needs. Examples include:
On-site and virtual Coach sessions are tailored to elevate instructional practices and meet the unique needs of teachers and/or leaders.
Partner with an Amplify coach who will support you in planning customized sessions leveraging our menu of supports, which can include:
Learning may ebb and flow between phases depending on your teachers’ and leaders’ needs, experiences, and professional goals. Amplify professional development aims to continually grow, develop, and refine instructional practices to support student learning and achievement.
We value your partnership and aim to provide you with the highest quality learning experiences. Check out our frequently asked PD questions below, along with responses.
Once you become an Amplify customer, you’ll have access to many opportunities to continue learning how to get the most out of your Amplify program(s).
To get a sense of our support, check out some of our free resources:
Facilitated in both English and Spanish, specialized biliteracy sessions should be scheduled for teachers using both curricula and/or assessments. Sessions are available to support the use of both Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos core programs or mCLASSⓇ DIBELSⓇ 8th Edition and Lectura assessment programs. Substitute a biliteracy session for the 6-hour initial training in your package, or add these sessions on to your package for your biliteracy teachers.
Speak to our team to learn more!
If you’re ready to submit your price quote, purchase order, or payment, visit our Ordering Support site for more information.
Connect with fellow Science of Reading or science advocates in one of our public Facebook groups. Join a community or tune into one of our podcasts today:
Amplify customers can join our exclusive, program-specific Facebook communities to ask pedagogical questions, share Amplify teaching hacks, and more!
We are educators supporting educators. Every member of Amplify’s national team of highly experienced and qualified facilitators is a former educator with years of hands-on classroom and/or administrative experience. Our facilitators are passionate about supporting educators in the implementation of their Amplify programs and creating transformational change for all students.
We hope you’ll take some time this summer to refresh your energy—and your math teaching skills and knowledge. We’re here to help with these professional learning opportunities for math teachers.
Culled from our trove of blog posts and webinars, we’ve compiled a list of math teacher resources covering topics from technology in the math classroom to math anxiety and more. We hope your down time and your math time add up to a great summer!
As math teachers, you work every day to celebrate student brilliance, build deep conceptual understanding, and create the conditions for every student to be successful. Find out how Amplify Desmos Math can help with these resources.
Desmos Classroom
This four-part webinar series will give you the tools you need to go from platform novice to skilled Desmos Classroom whiz.
How can you help students both learn math and love math? Examine what amazing math looks like for both educators and students in this webinar series that explores the importance of focus, engagement, and collaboration. Start with our special kickoff webinar presented by math expert Dan Meyer, host of Math Teacher Lounge, then binge-watch our webinars on next-level math engagement!
Desmos Math 6–A1
Learn about the EdReports process for evaluating high-quality instructional materials (including Desmos Math 6–8) in a post from our blog, then check out our info session and Step Ahead webinars to learn more about the program—and see it through the eyes of math students!
As any mathematician knows, there’s strength in numbers! The following posts, all from the Amplify blog, will help you build a culture of collaboration and community in your math classrooms.
Summer is one of those good things that must come to an end. But when it does, we hope these resources will have helped you feel more prepared than ever for a magical year of math!
Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere these days. We use it when we ask Alexa or Siri for the morning weather report. We use it when GPS tells us how to best avoid traffic. We use it when we chill at the end of the day with a recommendation from Netflix.
But what about during the day—and specifically, at school? Even more specifically, can AI be leveraged to enhance the math classroom?
“While AI is an amazing tool, you’ve really got to make sure that you are focusing in on your expertise as well,” says veteran math educator and STEM instructional coach Kristen Moore, “And saying, ‘How can I use this to make something better?’ and not just, ‘How can I use this to make something?’”
In this post, we’ll talk about the current state of AI in math education, and how it can support educators in making math better. (SPOILER: It’s not going to replace you!)
Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to the development of computer systems able to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.
It involves creating algorithms and systems that enable computers to learn from data, adapt to new situations, and make decisions or predictions.
AI aims to mimic human cognitive functions such as understanding language, recognizing patterns, solving problems, and making decisions. It encompasses a range of techniques and technologies, including machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing, and robotics.
The term “artificial intelligence” was introduced in 1956. The availability of vast amounts of data and advancements in computer power in the 2010s led to additional breakthroughs. And with the proliferation of smartphones, smart devices, and the internet, AI technologies began to work their way into our homes, cars, pockets, and everyday lives.
AI is already commonplace in schools and classrooms. Here are just a few examples:
While AI is not here to replace teachers, it is here to stay. And experts say it’s only going to become more commonplace. But despite how common AI is already—both outside and inside school—not all teachers are familiar with its numerous applications and potential. Now is a great time for educators to start exploring its uses and get ahead of the curve.
Here are a few easy entry points for math teachers.
ChatGPT: A common AI tool, ChatGPT is designed to understand and generate human-like text based on the input it receives. It’s trained on a wide range of internet text, which enables it to generate responses to a vast array of prompts and questions.
Most students have likely experimented with ChatGPT, while teachers—though aware of it—are less likely to use it. ChatGPT has highly practical applications for both groups, though—including in the math (and science) classroom.
It can, for example, help teachers plan interesting, relevant math lessons for their students. Kristen Moore, who discusses this topic on Math Teacher Lounge, suggests that math teachers use ChatGPT to:
As AI advances, it will continue to revolutionize education. Here are a few time-saving ways that educators can look forward to using it in their classrooms.
To dive deeper into AI in math education—and get rolling with AI in your classroom—check out this two-episode mini-series on our Math Teacher Lounge podcast focused on just that:
“I’m a believer that learning is inherently social,” says Carolan, who is quick to emphasize how technology can enhance that quality, not replace it. The same can be said for the role teachers play in the classroom—a role technology can support, but never take away. To learn more about this topic (and discuss it with your fellow educators!), head to our Math Teacher Lounge community!
No one is born knowing the quadratic formula, or how to measure a triangle—math needs to be taught.
Likewise, no one is born a “math person”—or not a math person. And no one is born with math anxiety.
“Children don’t come with math anxiety,” says Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content for Sesame Workshop and a guest on Math Teacher Lounge. “Math anxiety is learned.” That’s actually good news because it means math anxiety can be unlearned, too. We can teach students (and even teachers) how to overcome it. In this post, we’ll cover some helpful learning strategies, teacher tips, and supports for caregivers.
First, let’s review what math anxiety is and is not.
Math anxiety is more than just finding math challenging, or feeling like you’re not a math person. Dr. Gerardo Ramirez, associate professor of educational psychology at Ball State University, defines it as “a fear or apprehension in situations that might involve math or situations that you perceive as involving math. Anything from tests to homework to paying a tip at a restaurant.” Here’s what else we know:
Math anxiety can arise from the contexts and cultures in which students encounter math, so it makes sense that we can also create conditions that can help reduce it—and even prevent it from taking hold. Here are some key strategies for helping even the most math-anxious students thrive:
Caregivers may be accustomed to reading to students at home, but sitting together and doing math? Probably less so. Some caregivers may even inadvertently perpetuate math anxiety—or the ideas that feed it—by repeating some of the associated stereotypes and misconceptions. (“Sorry, kiddo, grandpa’s not a math person.”)
Teachers can address this by sending materials home to support caregivers in engaging kids in math. Math games, for example, offer a fun, accessible opportunity for home practice—and they can even be played at bedtime, along with story time.
In general, teachers can also encourage caregivers to:
Teachers have the ability to reduce math anxiety and help students unlearn the stereotypes associated with it by building a positive math ecosystem. They can build a positive community in their math classroom, set caregivers up for success in supporting students at home, and even shine a light on their own relationship to math.
To learn more, tune in to Season 5 of Math Teacher Lounge, dive into our math webinars, and read the rest of our math blog.
When we think of fluency, especially as a goal, we might think of speaking or reading a language. But fluency is also a goal in learning math! So what is math fluency? And what does it look like in the math classroom? In Season 6, Episode 1 of our Math Teacher Lounge podcast, Amplify’s own Jason Zimba helps us understand—using some analogies to baseball and chicken, of course.
We can develop fluency in many things, from coding to cooking. On the Math Teacher Lounge podcast, Amplify Chief Academic Officer of STEM Jason Zimba recounted becoming fluent in…roast chicken.
Jason describes practicing one particular recipe until it was perfect. For Jason, that meant not just that the outcome was flawless or delicious, but that he was eventually able to make it from memory, without thinking—and to naturally adjust and calculate for variables like a smaller or larger chicken, or an unfamiliar oven.
Math fluency works the same way. Practice brings effortlessness—freeing up time and mind space for new opportunities.
The word “fluency” comes from the Latin fluentia, which means “flowing.” When applied to math, it means ”skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately,” says podcast host and math teacher and advocate Dan Meyer. As with someone fluent in a language (or a recipe), someone fluent in math is able to think and calculate mathematically without struggle or effort—that is, with fluidity.
Podcast host and elementary educator Bethany Lockhart Johnson adds this informal description: “It’s that thing you don’t even think about anymore. ‘Cause it’s in there. You’re not still thinking about addition facts, because you’ve got it. And it fuels you. It’s the foundation that allows you to do all the other cool stuff.”
What does fluency look like in practice? A young learner fluent in math will be able to smoothly recite the number word list in order (“one, two, three…”) and write the numerals from 0 to 9. As the student grows, so does their fluency with multi-digit calculation, rational-number arithmetic, and eventually even variable expressions.
“It’s a wordless but still somehow almost verbal sort of fluency, with properties of operations as the grammar of the language,” says Jason.
But “it’s not fact recall,” he says. “Recall is remembering or just knowing. Fluency refers to calculation.”
There are different paths to fluency, but all can lead to “conceptual richness and mathematical joy,” says Dan.
If fluency provides that crucial foundation, what happens to students who are not math-fluent?
“When kids don’t have access to [fluency], it keeps them from diving into the juicy parts of math,” says Bethany. “Math is so much bigger than addition facts, but when they don’t know those addition facts, that becomes all math is.”
Without fluency, students miss opportunities to progress in (and enjoy) math, and may even develop math anxiety.
So how can you support math students in developing fluency?
For one thing, it’s important not to underestimate the value of practice and repetition. These approaches—especially when used in combination with other, more organic modes—can be highly productive, says Jason. “I worry about whether discomfort with repetitive practice is short-changing students of the power and confidence that fluency can bring.”
Dan compares it to achieving excellence in a sport—”like shooting from the same spot on the court over and over again,” he says. That kind of rote repetition is valuable in sports, and should also have its place in math instruction.
It’s also important for students to understand why they’re learning and even drilling their numbers, arithmetic, or times tables, Jason notes. They need to be “invested in understanding and agreeing that this is going to do something for them.”
One thing that helps: providing students a sense that they’ve accomplished something. “We need to have moments for them to reflect on what has been learned and what is now easy that was previously hard,” Dan says. He calls this process “humanizing fluency”—and Math Teacher Lounge will be here all season to help math educators do just that.
Join us at NCTM in October for a live Math Teacher Lounge podcast recording with Dan Meyer and special guest Jennifer Bay-Williams! We’ll be investigating math fluency and finding fun ways to get all students engaged in math instruction.
Math Teacher Lounge LIVE!
NCTM | Oct. 27 | 2:30 p.m. EST (doors at 2:15) | Room 158AB
Why is collaborative learning important?
Just ask this third grader: “It is important to work together, because when you work together you can get smarter by other people’s ideas.”
That just about sums it up!
Let’s take a closer look at what math looks like in a collaborative classroom, why collaboration matters, and how teachers can build a culture of collaboration for their K–8 math students.
Kristin Gray, executive director of Amplify’s math suite, is a veteran math teacher. (The answer above came from one of her very astute third graders.) And according to her, collaboration in math is so much more than just kids chatting. Gray paints a picture of collaborative math learning in elementary math and beyond as kids who are:
Taken together, collaboration supports connections—among experiences, math concepts, and others’ ideas and experiences.
Collaboration means making the time and space to take these widely varied things that each student brings uniquely to our math classroom and bring them out in a really safe and collaborative culture.
– Kristin Gray, executive director of Amplify’s math suite
Substantial research shows that collaborative learning promotes active learning, critical thinking, communication skills, social development, a positive learning environment, deeper understanding of concepts, and preparation for real-life situations.
Gray cites a few findings in particular:
What conditions best set up a math class for collaboration?
Above all, students need hands-on activities that truly engage—or, in Gray’s words, “tasks worth talking about.” Teachers should emphasize the importance of the process of getting to the answer, encouraging the sharing of “rough draft ideas” that students can develop together. Gray also recommends stopping the groups’ conversations before they’re done, so that they can reflect on what they’re doing rather than just report what they did.
Other resources:
Problem-based learning offers a powerful approach to collaborative learning in math. Our guide around making the shift to problem-based learning through Learning Labs will walk teachers through what problem-based learning is, why it’s critical to math instruction, and how to support the shift to this approach through Learning Labs. A tried-and-true STEM strategy that Gray has often used with teachers, Learning Labs break the typical mold of siloed professional development days by encouraging collaborative professional learning within the classroom!
Desmos Classroom activities let students share their thinking with each other. The teacher dashboard provides educators a window into this thinking in real time, as well as a powerful toolkit to turn those ideas into still more productive conversations and effective learning. Check out all the Featured Collections Desmos Classroom has to offer.
OK, shuffle the deck and draw four cards. Place them face up, in no particular order. Your job: pair them into two-digit numbers with the lowest possible difference between them.
If you draw a 3, a 9, and two 8s, you’re not going to want to make them into 98 and 38. 89 and 83 might be a better move.
Whatever pairs you create, you’re likely more engaged by this challenge than you might have been by the invitation: “Let’s practice subtracting two-digit numbers!”
That’s just one of the benefits of integrating math fact fluency games and other math-driven games into your classroom.
A special live recording of Math Teacher Lounge at NCTM 2023—in which host Dan Meyer plays the above card game—explores how games can not only help build math fluency, but also help bring joy into the classroom.
As Dan notes during the live show, playing a game creates an energy shift in the room: “There’s like a moment of activation for a game versus a worksheet, where people are kind of murmuring and chattering,” he says. “I just want to, like, catch the vibe.”
Let’s find out more.
When we think of fluency, we might think of speaking or reading a language. But fluency is also a goal in learning math. (And it’s the theme of this entire season of Math Teacher Lounge!)
As discussed in this post, the word “fluency” comes from the Latin fluentia, which means “flowing.” When applied to math facts for kids, it means ”skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately,” says Dan. As with someone fluent in a language (or a recipe), someone fluent in math is able to think and calculate mathematically without struggle or effort—that is, with fluidity.
Podcast co-host and elementary educator Bethany Lockhart Johnson provides this informal definition: “It’s that thing you don’t even think about anymore. ‘Cause it’s in there. You’re not still thinking about addition facts, because you’ve got it. And it fuels you. It’s the foundation that allows you to do all the other cool stuff.”
How do games help with all of this?
They can help make math more fun, for sure—but that’s just a start.
Podcast guest Jennifer Bay-Williams, Ph.D., a math education professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, knows that the learning and practicing of basic math facts can be rote and dull—but it doesn’t have to be. She likes to ask teachers: “How can you bring more joy to the learning of math, in a serious way?”
As this Edutopia article notes, “effective games…link content with low-stakes competition and can provide a more collaborative, engaging classroom experience—especially for students who may struggle to focus or find their niche in learning.”
There’s plenty of research to show that games can boost student participation, comfort with taking risks, interpersonal skills and classroom community, and positive attitudes toward learning. For kids with ADHD and dyslexia, they can also help improve focus and certain types of attention that support improved reading. All of this can help students get the practice and comfort with math they need to build the fluency they require.
But that doesn’t mean math class should be all fun and games. It’s important to integrate games into instruction thoughtfully and with purpose. As Bay-Williams says, she makes sure to ask teachers, “Really, why are we doing the game?”
Desmos Classroom offers numerous math fluency games for all grade levels.
Just like certain functions and number sequences, even the most successful podcasts reach a natural end. And that’s true of Math Teacher Lounge. After six seasons and more than 40 episodes, co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer are heading off to work on other exciting projects.
So let’s take a look at the podcast’s farewell episode, as well as some highlights from earlier seasons.
On the final episode of Math Teacher Lounge, our hosts walk through the past ten episodes on math fluency. They highlight key conversations on defining and assessing fluency, fluency development in a bilingual math classroom setting, and the potential pitfalls of relying too heavily on so-called fake fluency.
“I think every guest has answered a question that we’ve had about fluency and then also opened up new areas of investigation for us,” says Dan. “Whether that’s thinking about community more deeply through fluency or assessment or classroom practices, all these different folks offered us a glimpse into their expertise and then pointed at paths towards more learning.”
Spanning six seasons, the podcast has reached thousands of educators while exploring a wide range of topics including the joy of math, math anxiety, and (of course) math fluency. Guests have included Amplify’s Jason Zimba, Reach Capital’s Jennifer Carolan, and Baltimore County Public Schools’s John W. Staley, Ph.D.
Some of the most popular episodes included:
Investigating math anxiety in the classroom (S5E1) with Gerardo Ramirez, Ph.D., associate professor of educational psychology at Ball State University. Ramirez helped our hosts and listeners understand what math anxiety is and is not, what impact it has on learning, and what we can do about it.
Building math fluency through games (S6E7) with University of Louisville professor Jennifer Bay-Williams, Ph.D., who—in a special live recording at NCTM 2023—showed how games can bring both fluency and joy into the math classroom.
Cultivating a joy of learning with Sesame Workshop (S5E3) with Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content for Sesame Workshop. Dr. Truglio shared how to cultivate a growth mindset in young children and point them toward academic achievement and long-term success.
Bethany and Dan will continue working on a host of other exciting projects, including webinars and conference appearances. On March 12, Dan will also participate in the Amplify 2024 Math Symposium: a free, virtual, five-hour event that will help educators strengthen math instruction, bolster student agency, and build math proficiency for life.
The following key Math Symposium sessions (featuring your favorite Math Teacher Lounge guests and host Dan Meyer) will help you learn even more about those popular topics in math:
Dan Meyer
How to Invite Students into More Effective Math Learning | 3:15 p.m. EDT
Gerardo Ramirez Ball State University
How Student’s Personal Narratives Shape Math Learning | 12:15 p.m. EDT
Jennifer Bay-Williams University of Louisville
Bringing Math to Life: How Games Build Fluency and Engagement | 1:00 p.m. EDT
Akimi Gibson Sesame Workshop
Developing Young Children’s Identities and Competencies as Mathematicians | 4:00 p.m. EDT
Check out the full agenda and sign up today. All sessions will be recorded and attendees will receive a certificate of attendance.
Based on my experience in math education, I find that many pedagogical structures or moves sound great in theory, but are often easier said than done. Because of the complexity, asking students to construct mathematical arguments has been one of those things for me. Fortunately, over the years, I have had the joy and privilege to work with Jody and Chepina, whose thinking around math argumentation is grounded in theory and paired with practical and actionable advice and structures. I am so excited for others to share in their deep thinking and look forward to seeing the impact their work will have in classrooms.
—Kristin Gray, Executive Director, Math suite, Amplify
Students bring curiosity and wonder to the classroom every day. When we’re attending to their ideas, we can find more opportunities for mathematical argumentation in our math lessons. Let’s look at how these opportunities arise in a first-grade classroom.
The purpose of the lesson was for students to identify equivalent addition expressions by sorting cards, each with a different expression. Students quickly noticed that there is more than one way to get the same value. They could even begin to see the commutative property in action when shown cards with addends in opposite order: 4 + 3 = 3 + 4.
While sorting addition expressions, rather than organizing the cards in piles by their value, one student named Jenna organized the cards in columns. This student-led creative modification to the card sort structure allowed for different noticings and wonderings to emerge. She started by creating a row across the top with cards showing one addend of 0. At first, she wasn’t consistent with the top card being 0 + x or x + 0, but over time changed them so that they were all 0 + x. Then she filled in the last column with expressions equal to 10. As she added cards, she started to change the order so that the first addend on the cards increased going down the column and the second addend decreased.
As Jenna added each card to her organizational structure, the teacher asked where that card would go and how she knew. When asked about the 2 + 6 card, for example, Jenna said, “Because this is counting to 8, and this”—she pointed to a gap—“has to be 7, because [the 6 is] 2 less than 8. It fits here because these are all twos” (in the row). Jenna was coordinating several characteristics of rows and columns within the structure of the chart.
As Jenna continued to fill in the chart, she noticed yet another pattern. Pointing to the step pattern, Jenna noticed that, “There is a stair step. The pattern keeps going. There’s one more way to make the total as it gets bigger.”
We could state this conjecture more precisely as: “For any whole number n, there are n + 1 ways to add two whole numbers to get a sum of n.” Jenna was making sense of big math ideas and noticing structure embedded in arithmetic.
As we step back and reflect on what we experienced with Jenna, we wonder what could happen next. How might Jenna justify her thinking? She noticed the stair-step pattern and multiple ways to arrive at the total. What might she say if we asked her, “Why is that happening?” Or if we gave her a tool such as linking cubes and asked if she could use the cubes to show why that works? Are there other questions that could have nudged her to extend her thinking, such as, “Will that always work?” or “What numbers does it work for?” Is there a tool or representation that would help her continue her reasoning?
We can also think about what might happen if we shared Jenna’s idea with the other students. How might they respond to Jenna’s noticing? Would her ideas lead others to see and use structure in similar ways? How would they make sense of her ideas? Perhaps this is an opportunity to engage students in each other’s ideas.
The opportunity for Jenna and her classmates to make sense and explore their natural curiosity emerges from a classroom environment that’s playful and filled with wonder—where children are given time to explore and interact with materials and each other. We noticed that as Jenna progressed through the cards, she refined and added on to her thinking. This is evident in the first row of cards. She grouped cards with 0 as an addend, then began to sequence them, and later considered the positioning of the addends to 0 + x. As we might infer from the interaction of the teacher, there isn’t one right way to think about the task, nor one way for the teacher to encourage students to think about it. We hear the teacher ask Jenna to share her reasoning: It’s not a question posed to evaluate Jenna’s thinking, but rather to gain insight into her thinking—something the teacher is genuinely curious about.
In addition to the classroom environment, the card sort also presented an open-ended opportunity. Students made sense of the sort in many different ways, some finding related pairs and starting to identify (not yet naming) the commutative property, others grouping problems with a common addend in piles. All students had access to the task and time to make sense of it.
We share the story of Jenna as one of many instances where young children have shared their brilliance with us. Their wonder and curiosity inspired us to explore their ideas along with K–2 teachers. We saw students notice, wonder, conjecture, justify, and extend ideas that led to a deep understanding of key mathematical concepts while integrating mathematical argumentation.
We share ideas like the brilliance from Jenna in our new book, Nurturing Math Curiosity with Learners in Grades K–2, where we also make connections among instructional routines, center, and card sorts. Our book also discusses supporting students in curious exploration, building on what they already bring to the classroom as a way to bring opportunities for mathematical argumentation into our lessons.
Rumsey, C., & Guarino, J. (2024). Nurturing Math Curiosity with Learners in Grades K–2. Solution Tree. Bloomington, IN. ISBN: 9781960574367
How many servings of coleslaw do you need for the picnic? What, on average, is the coolest time of the day? Exactly how likely is a lightning strike?
Math doesn’t stop when summer starts. This season is ripe with opportunities for challenging and stretching your math brain. It’s also the perfect time for math teachers to dive into professional learning without the time constraints of the classroom. Our recommendation? Kickstart your summer learning and set yourself up for even greater success in the new school year with our free professional development opportunities for math educators!
Check out our curated list of on-demand professional development and resources. Whether you’re seeking ways to incorporate more problem-based learning methods, wanting to learn more about implementing an instructional approach, or simply looking for fresh activities to bring to the math classroom, you’ll find a variety of options here that will fit any agenda and schedule.
This program brings problem-based learning into the math classroom, with an approach proven to help students develop math reasoning and problem-solving skills—not to mention deep understanding, fluency, and comfort with all things math.
Let’s take a closer look at problem-based learning in math, and at the contours of this exciting curriculum.
When you learned math, you likely started out learning arithmetic then moved on to solving word problems. You might have learned formulas, then practiced using them to determine the volume of a prism or which train will arrive at what time.
But life works differently. Sometimes we tackle the problem first, not the formula. When you get a new piece of technology—a phone, a TV, a computer—you might read the user guide, or you might just turn it on and try some things.
If that second style sounds like you, that’s common—and it’s an example of learning through problem-solving.
“It’s something we naturally do,” says Kristin Gray, executive director of Amplify’s math suite. “We’ve had a phone before, so we would pick up this new phone and try doing things that we know worked before, and then we would experiment. Does it work the same on this phone? This bouncing between experience and explanation is the foundation of how we learn through problem-solving.”
Students tackling interesting problems, raising questions about the math required, receiving an explanation, and applying it back to the problem—just as in the example of new technology.
“When we show students how to get the answer, we send the message that math is solely about answer-getting and learning processes. Answers are important, but we want to use problems to teach the math, not just teach students to get the answer,” says Gray.
Learning through problem-solving can also engage more learners in math, says Gray. By influencing the way students (and teachers) think about what it means to know and do math, problem-based learning has the potential to shift the way they think of themselves as mathematicians.
“Students are naturally curious and like solving challenges and trying things in new ways, so that’s a great start,” says Gray.
And understanding is motivating. It inspires perseverance and confidence. It supports making connections, not learning concepts in isolation.
When students are given a new problem and are able to use prior knowledge to help solve it, that “promotes the development of autonomous learners,” says Gray.
Our program combines interactive problem-based lessons with explicit instruction, reinforcement, and practice. Lessons build a strong foundation in procedural and fact fluency, deepen understanding of concepts, and enable students to apply learning to real-world tasks.
To learn more about how and why it all came together, watch the following video featuring Amplify Director of Project Management Christina Lee, Amplify Math advisor and Desmos user Fawn Nguyen, and Desmos Director of Research Dan Meyer.
Christina: Hi, I’m Christina, the product manager at Amplify working on our K–12 math program. As you may have heard by now, Desmos Classroom is joining Amplify. This includes all of teacher.desmos.com, including all of the free activities, the free activity builder, and the Desmos math curriculum. I have Fawn Nguyen and Dan Meyer here to answer a few questions about what’s going on. Thank you both for joining!
The first question is to you, Dan. One thing every Desmos user is going to want to know is, will the Desmos calculators and activities on teacher.desmos.com stay free to use forever?
Dan: Yes, period. It’s an important question and an easy one to answer. Our commitment to users, from day one, has been [to] whatever you can use for free. Now we’re not going to make you pay for that. We know how hard it is as a teacher to build your practice on top of software that could disappear, and Amplify shares that commitment in a rock-solid way.
Christina: That’s great to hear! Fawn, can you tell us a little bit about what you love about teacher.desmos.com? Why should a teacher who’s never used [it] check it out?
Fawn: How do I love teacher teacher.desmos.com? Let me count the ways! There’s nothing like it out there that allows teachers to build lessons from scratch. What makes it unique? Well, there are lots of things that are unique about Desmos, but the screen-by-screen build is a standout for me. It allows me to interact with students prior to moving to the next screen. More importantly, the interaction among the students and the teacher dashboard is just brilliant. It lets me see the students’ responses, especially the graphical ones, in real time. I feel like it’s a built-in formative assessment [in] the lesson. And not surprisingly, the structures from the five math practices by Peg Smith are built-in there with the selecting, sequencing, and connecting.
Christina: Dan, why does it make sense for Amplify and Desmos to build one core math program for grades 6–12?
Dan: We’ve been traveling on separate parallel paths for a really long time and it makes a lot of sense for us to go farther together. For instance, we’ve both been building a core curriculum based on the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum. We have both been doing that using core Desmos technology. We both share an understanding of the complexity of teaching, the brilliance of student thinking, and so it makes sense for us to merge together. Desmos brings to the table a deep understanding of how technology can support student learning, and Amplify brings to the table an understanding of how systems support students at scale. So we bring a lot of commonalities and a lot of elements that both of us need from the other.
Christina: Fawn, you’ve been an advisor on the Amplify Math curriculum focused on problem-solving. In what ways do you think this knitting together of the two programs will help make teaching through problem-solving easier for teachers?
Fawn: I actually knit, Christina! So I really like your description of the partnership as knitting together the two programs. It’s like taking two luxurious fibers, if I may say––ironically, luxurious but free, which describes literally nothing except Desmos––and weaving them together to create a gorgeous and functional design. I’m thinking about a sweater vest for Dan, he would look great in it! Amplify truly understands what problem-solving is, that it’s non-routine. And Amplify’s math curriculum has many great activities. However, when this task can only live on a printed page it’s hard for it to stay as a problem-solving task. What I mean is that it’s hard for students to unsee things. So when it’s on paper, you have to show all the cards and that ruins everything to me, frankly. But with Desmos again, with that screen-by-screen build and the pause and pace functions, they are designed so that the timing of teacher moves can happen. I think the timing is really important. And then problem-solving is about tinkering with ideas and testing conjectures, and Desmos is built for such. It invites you to play, it invites you to take risks, and it doesn’t shame you when you make a mistake. So ultimately, Desmos brings school mathematics, which Amplify writes, closer to what doing mathematics looks like.
Christina: Dan, one final question for you. What’s going to happen to the Desmos calculators now?
Dan: The Desmos calculators, like all the other technology as part of this deal, will remain free into perpetuity. They’ll get spun over into a new corporation, a public benefit corporation called Desmos Studio, where they’ll have a lot more focus from the people who work on it and a lot more resources to expand and develop and do that work.
Christina: Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Fawn. Thank you both. I’m really excited about this opportunity we have to build something special for teachers and students! For more information about Amplify Math and Desmos Classroom, and everything else we’ve got going on, please visit amplify.com/futureofmath.
Amplify Desmos Math makes it easy for both teachers and students to make the shift to a problem-based approach by providing captivating activities, powerful teacher-facilitation tools, and lots of support for differentiation and practice.
Lessons start with warm-ups that tap into prior knowledge and move into problems that require collaboration to solve. Teachers monitor, engage, and ultimately synthesize student work into the main idea. There are also ample opportunities for practice and reflection.
Amplify Desmos Math will be available for 2025–26 school year implementation. Interested districts can pilot the beta release starting fall 2024.
Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
Math teachers: What’s the formula for a successful year? As you know, there are plenty of variables, but here’s one constant: being prepared for back-to-school season.
We’re here to help!
From fun math activities to positive tone-setting to professional learning opportunities and more, our strategies are designed to help you enter your math classroom for the new school year feeling energized, inspired, and supported by your math community.
Before launching into back-to-school math lessons, how about a few rounds of Icebreaker Bingo? Create a Bingo card inviting students to find classmates who can answer “yes” to math-related descriptions (e.g., “Enjoys cooking or baking,” “Plays a musical instrument,” “Likes to play board games”). Activities like these motivate students by helping them uncover common interests and reminding them that math is an integral part of “real life.”
Review what systems may already be in place and consider adding more. You might:
As Math Teacher Lounge podcast co-host Dan Meyer says, “Students spend the majority of their learning in class [being] wrong.” That’s not only normal, it’s actually good—as long as students know that. Start the year by reminding them that making mistakes is not only inevitable, but also essential. Normalizing being “wrong” encourages students to overcome fear of failure, take risks, and build confidence—in school math activities and beyond.
Build a math ecosystem connecting students to one another and creating a continuum between the classroom and their everyday lives. You might:
Explore our upcoming math webinars, designed to support you—along with your schools and districts—in using collaborative, effective, and engaging math practices in the classroom.
You can also check out our on-demand math webinar library on your own time. From quick tips to longer continuing education (CE) credit options, our library is sure to have just what you need.
Finally, our free toolkit of math resources will:
