Make math active, social & fun
Built by researchers and teachers. Students learn math by building things with their hands and working together.
Algebra Studio invites kids into math through physical materials, collaborative projects, and games that make abstract ideas concrete. Seven multi-week labs, twenty-seven games, and free interactive tools — all designed in real classrooms.
Watch what happens when students can touch the algebra
"I was able to get a visual, and actually, like, understand it." — 8th grade student, Chicago
Students demonstrate Balance Lab and explain — in their own words — what it means to solve equations with physical objects.
Three ways in
Multi-week projects, quick games, or free interactive tools
Multi-week hands-on math projects
Students build, measure, design, and argue about math. Physical materials, teacher portal, slides, video walkthroughs — everything you need.
27 print-and-play math games
Quick to learn, fun to play, genuinely mathematical. Area, fractions, coordinates, operations, algebraic thinking.
Story Questions
Choose a world, spin the wheel, do the math! Works as a whole-class warmup or small-group activity.
What people are saying
Teachers, students, and principals in their own words
"It's better than math. Even though it IS math."
"I told Jack this morning that he showed an 8th grade skill on his post test and he was beaming! The genuine joy on his face brought tears to my eyes. I'm so proud of his growth!"
"The kids loved it. The teachers loved it. This was the best thing we did all year!"
"Students could not stop saying, 'this is so awesome!' over and over. Everyone was engaged, even the quiet ones."
"You're learning, but not knowing you're learning. It's like learning in disguise."
"Jaxsyn has a conception that she is not good at math so she doesn't generally try to answer questions or work problems. I was bowled over as I watched her using a drawing strategy during the post test. That was more effort than I have seen from her all year."
"The kids who were absent said, 'Can I stay in at recess to finish?'"
"I got pictures of Anna Beth with an authentic smile for the first time all year. That is not something you can measure on an assessment, but it is remarkable."
"My kids said it was SO hard and SO fun."
"My student with autism was really comfortable. He was excited that he could do it. That was shocking for me."
"Liam loved every bit of this unit and he took his Lesson 4 puzzles home to work on over the summer … because he wanted to."
"The kids would constantly ask us, 'Are we going to do PRISM today?'"
"It was a perfect project for us trying to include STEM into our curriculum because not a lot of our things are very hands-on. In this, every single activity is hands-on."
"We loved it."
"My higher kids were teaching the other kids, which is ultimately what I want them to be doing."
"I really love this approach to teaching."
Math Labs
See all 7 labs →
Slope Lab
Build motorized racers, collect distance/time data, discover slope, and write equations in y = mx + b form.
PRISM: Grand Opening
Design a pet supply store — area, perimeter, arrays, and multiplication through a business simulation.
What students wrote after working with Algebra Studio materials
"My experience here was incredible. You are literally building the scale."
In a letter to future students, this learner describes the experience of physically constructing a balance and using it to understand equations — and urges others to try it.
Short, focused math mini-lessons covering a broad range of standards from grades 3–8. Area and arrays, fraction operations, coordinate graphing, algebraic reasoning — taught by veteran math educator Howie Templer.
Explore the video library →Who built this
Algebra Studio was developed by a learning scientist, a children's book author, and a veteran math teacher. The collection draws on research in the cognitive and learning sciences — how hands-on activity grounds mathematical cognition, and how students construct knowledge by reasoning through problems together. Every lab is built in the design tradition: developed, tested, and refined in real classrooms.
