Interactive Teaching Tool for Long Multiplication
Unofficial Math Education Startup
May 2022
Problem and Solution
- Problem: An unofficial math education startup tasked me with finding new, creative ways to teach math with interactive programs. Traditional methods of teaching long multiplication often fail to explain how long multiplication really works, inhibiting comprehension and a deeper understanding
- Solution: An interactive program that intuitively demonstrates long multiplication using the width and height of a graham cracker
Skills Demonstrated
- Technical skills: Javascript, cross-browser testing, mobile testing, debugging, UX design
- Soft skills: Explaining with visuals, collaboration, time management, identifying & articulating requirements
Results
- Although the startup did not secure funding and this program remained unused, the program aligned with the startup’s mission of rethinking math education
Description
Volunteering for an unofficial math education startup, I collaborated with the project lead to ensure that my first program aligned with the startup's goals and vision of finding unique, creative ways to teach math.
The end result is an interactive program that visually explains how the process of long multiplication works, by having the user tap a virtual graham cracker to split it into the individual components that are summed in a long multiplication problem, showing how the method breaks down the problem into easier steps.
This program was built using a Javascript library I created for P5JS (Mobile Friendly Cursor library).