Next Gen AI-Powered Math Tools Enter the Classroom
A new wave of apps are focused on understanding student thinking in real-time and helping teachers have a sharper view of learning gaps.
Earlier this year I stepped into a seventh-grade math class where technology felt as ordinary as lined paper. The teacher guided the lesson from a smart board and students jumped between apps on their Chromebooks. Nearly every stage, from warm-up to exit ticket, lived inside a digital workflow. This was not the math classroom I knew from my own middle school days. It wasn’t even the classroom of my teaching days a decade ago.
What grabbed me, though, was a math app with an arguably terrible name: Goblins. Students solved practice problems by typing, speaking, or sketching on their screens; Goblins’ AI parsed their sometimes-messy handwriting, diagnosed missteps, and coached them forward in real time. I watched one student finger-write factors barely legible to me; the software still interpreted the scrawl and nudged the student toward the greatest common factor.
The breakthrough here isn’t the instant score, older platforms did that, but the step-by-step capture of student thinking. Instead of grading only the final answer, Goblins tracks each algebraic jab and geometric feint, flagging where a student’s logic veers off course and prompting the student around their errors—without giving away the answer. That level of visibility and in-the-moment support was nearly impossible with earlier math apps that captured only right or wrong answers. And Goblins isn’t alone. Tools like Magma Math and Snorkl are also leveraging AI to help educators understand how students think.
Education has never lacked “next big things,” and districts, teachers, and students have been burned more than once by the promises of technology and edtech companies. Current context matters, too: on the 2022 NAEP, just 26 % of eighth-graders reached “proficient” in math, and average scores plunged eight points from 2019—the steepest drop ever recorded [1][2]. I hesitate to say this new wave of AI-tools for math feels different. But they do offer real promise, particularly in how they focus on identifying misconceptions, supporting students in the moment, and emulating strong instruction by coaching students to think critically.
Goblins, Magma Math, and Snorkl are tackling one piece of the puzzle. But the reality is that teachers are still driving instruction (and IMHO, they still should be), and deep learning gaps remain. These tools help intervene in the moment—but how might they support longer-term interventions for students who are behind? How might they help teachers make instructional decisions to better differentiate teaching or target support for specific groups?
Over the next few posts, I’ll share notes on what I’ve been seeing in the field of education and education technology. In the meantime, let me know what you think and check out the links to the tools above.
