Exploring YouCubed

YouCubed is a not-for-profit organization that provides free mathematics resources for students, teachers as well as parents. Jo Boaler, founder of YouCubed, says the goal of the website is to strive to make mathematics fun and interesting for students, describing it as a "revolutionary way to teach math education."

I was a little confused when I first went on to the website in how to navigate my way around it. It is designed a little differently than most other websites you normally encounter as it is one continuous page which as you scroll down reveals more and more intriguing content which comes in the form of lesson plans, videos, games, articles and much more. Once you figure out how to work your way around, YouCubed is actually quite impressive!

The first thing that caught my eye when exploring YouCubed was the lesson plans and mathematical games. They are written in a very detailed manner but are easy to understand and any teacher could use these in their classrooms. One I found especially interesting was the example of "Glow in the Dark Geometry" where students will get to make various geometric shapes out of glow sticks. To me, this takes a very different approach to teaching essential mathematics concepts and give teachers a better way of using creativity in the classroom. This is something I would definitely use in my future classrooms is only one example of many of the games and lessons this site has to offer.

What I probably found most intriguing about this website was the viewpoint that Jo Boaler takes on mathematics and the teaching of this subject. It runs on the assumption that all children have the potential to excel at mathematics, which I feel is a very innovative approach. Typically we rate ourselves as either "good" or "bad" at math with this usually being determined by the grades we receive in school, at least, this has been my experience. As future teachers, I think we need to encourage our students to think differently than this and not to fear math but rather enjoy the subject for all it has to offer. YouCubed offers many different ways to instill this attitude within our students and I definitely feel it is onto something.

So, is YouCubed the next mathematics revolution? It may be a little early to say as the website is not fully operational yet (but will be in the next few months!) but it is definitely a step in the right direction. I am always excited, as a future educator, to find a new resource that I feel will be helpful in my career and I will be keeping an eye on this website in the future.

 

What do you think? Check out YouCubed for yourself!