Success Stories out of the Institute of Education Sciences' SBIR Program: Woot Math by Simbulus, Inc.

Product:

In prior research and development supported by NSF SBIR and other private funding sources, the project team developed Woot Math, a technology delivered intervention with interactive games and activities for pre-algebra readiness. In the ED/IES SBIR project, the team developed additional capability to support formative assessment to inform student work. The insights provided to the teacher are designed to promote dialogue and discussion of complex algebra topics between teachers and students. The Woot Math platform works across all web-enabled devices, including laptops, tablets, smartphones, smart boards, and projectors. The interface includes a teacher tool to quickly create, customize, share, and remix materials as Open Educational Resources (OERs), which teachers can easily share with other teachers.

Since being acquired by Saga Education, Woot Math's underlying technology is also used to reinforce Saga's core mission to support students through high-impact tutoring. The work done during the ED/IES SBIR project resulted in an interactive platform where a live human tutor can directly work with students no matter where they are. The technology was used to support tutoring by school districts across the country during the pandemic.

Research and Development

During Phase I in 2017, the team developed a prototype that generates information on student work during math class. At the end of Phase I, researchers completed a pilot study with 254 students and nine teachers across grade 8 and 9 classrooms. Results demonstrated that the prototype operated as intended, teachers were able to understand and use the platform, and students were engaged during classroom dialogue around the insights on their work. In Phase II in 2018, the team fully developed the user interface for students and teachers, a tool to create and share OERs, and materials to support classroom implementation. All development during this project was done through a co-design process with math educators and students, with iterative refinements made at key milestones based on this feedback until development was concluded.

In late 2019 and early 2020, the researchers conducted pilot implementations in three mathematics classrooms. Survey data and observations demonstrated that math educators reported the product worked as intended and was feasible to integrate within classroom instruction. Students provided feedback that they liked the functionalities offered by the product and were engaged during use. A randomized controlled trial was planned for the spring of 2020 and sites were set to begin data collection in February 2020. However, the sites were not able to participate due to the closure of schools as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Path to Commercialization:

In the fall of 2020, during the COVID19 pandemic, Saga Education acquired Woot Math and the technology was immediately deployed to enable Saga to support remote tutoring with live tutors. Saga's program combined with Woot Math's platform reaches approximately 75,000 students per year in school districts around the nation. The platform for remote tutoring hosted almost a million sessions between 2020 and 2022. In 2021, Saga was able to launch an online platform for training tutors, which Boys and Girls Clubs of America uses as their primary vehicle for training volunteers.

Prior to the acquisition, Woot Math had 50,000 teachers registered and served an average 250,000 students per year. The developers also collaborated with College Board on providing tutoring to help disadvantaged youth. In the month after the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Woot Math served approximately 380,000 students and 57,0000 teachers at 18,000 schools.

Industry Recognition, Certifications, and News:

• 2020 — Woot Math is acquired by Saga Education. Read Here.
• 2020 — Woot Math earns a Digital Promise Research-Based Certification.
• 2020 — EdSurge publishes a story featuring ED/IES SBIR awardees Brainquake and Woot Math. Read Here.
• 2018 — Woot Math is a finalist in the Adaptive Technology Solution and the Math Solution categories in the EdTech Awards. Read Here.

Featured at IES Events and in IES Blogs

• 2021 — Woot Math with SAGA Education is featured in a 2021 ED Games Expo event, hosted by Americorps and IES focused on new models to enable remote tutoring to accelerate learning during COVID19. Watch here.
• 2022 — Woot Math is featured in an Inside IES Research Blog on tutoring programs that are in use in scale for in-person and remote learning. Read Here.

Follow On Funding

• 2019 — Funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to extend Woot Math for research to support team-based work and to support remote tutoring.