Brilliant.org in the classroom

As a teacher I am looking for more ways to bring Brilliant.org into the classroom. I would like as many ideas as possible for bringing brilliant into the classroom.

I have already introduced the idea of the Apprentice, Journeyman, Adept, Magnus, and Brilliant solution writer into my classroom, as well as posting challenging problems on the blackboard to challenge students (along with crediting the user responsible for posting it). I would like a way to group students to solve problems and try to earn points as a group.

I'm all ears.

-Pete

#Abrilliantclassroom

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Wow, that really excites me that you've been challenging students with these problems, and also uploading them to the Solution Writing standards that I laid out.

Here are some suggestions for activities that you could do. I don't know the standard / maturity that you're teaching, so I'm offering a spectrum of ideas. I can work with you further if you're interested:

Have groups of students collaborate on a wiki, since explaining material is the best way of ensuring that you understand it well. We have a system which works well, allowing the community to brainstorm on the content and deciding on how to structure the page.
After covering a topic, ask them to submit problems related to it, and see how the Brilliant community engages with them. Then, pick the best problems to use in your test (for extra credit). This gets them eager to think deeper about the concept, and also create interesting problems that they can challenge each other with.
Pick a problem that has multiple solution approaches (esp in Geometry or Combinatorics). Have them write up their solutions, and then host a discussion about the relative merits of the different approaches, and what the lessons learnt are. By making this explicit, they can start to form linkages about how different areas of math are interconnected with each other, and discover these connections for themselves.
Have students pick a problem that they like, and then come up with different versions of it, or even generalize the problem to a different scenario. This helps them think about the underlying mathematics concepts, and learn how to apply what they have learnt into a new situation. They can then post the problem, and see if it also engages with others.

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 8 months ago

Hi, Calvin. Thank you for these great ideas.

Other than clicking in and out of Following/Followers, are there other ways that a teacher can push and monitor student progress on Brilliant.org? I purchased an annual subscription since the math content looks great, but I don't see any coaching features like quiz assignments / data analytics.

Pei-Hsin Lin - 3 years, 4 months ago

@Pei-Hsin Lin I sent you an email.

Jason Dyer Staff - 3 years, 4 months ago

Hi. I'm a college prof (in health sciences, not math/science) and my husband teaches IB physics and math. I'm thinking about buying a subscription for him to use while school is shut down until May. If I buy it, can his students use it and solve problems or is it only limited to him? This won't do him any good but would help students. Please let me know if he can use this with his students, i.e., give them problems to work on or is it only accessible to those who subscribe?

Thanks!

PS: His district pays junk -- that's why I'd buy it for him LOL

Elizabeth Postovit - 1 year, 2 months ago

I would also like to know if this could work? I teach middle school and I have identified some topics and problems suitable for my students. I know this program is meant for selflearning, but would love to see a plattform where (as a teacher) I could track students progress.

Thanks "BRILLIANT" Staff.

Miguel Torroella - 1 year ago

Hey @Miguel Torroella and @Elizabeth Postovit

We are working on a student tracking and topic assigning feature for use in schools that we will be releasing for the 2020/2021 school year. If you are a teacher and would like to start testing it out, please email [email protected] and we will get you sorted out with some free premium accounts.

We are also providing accounts to any schools that have gone remote due to COVID, through the same email.

Blake Farrow Staff - 1 year ago

You could have Socratic Seminars in your math class. Give out a challenging math problem and see how the class as a whole works together to try and solve that problem. You can repeat this for a while so they can get the hang of it. Then you can ask the students to create their own challenging math problems and watch how other students solve said problem. You don't necessarily have to use Brilliant.org in your class. Just use some of the ideas from Brilliant.org in your math class.

Ananth Jayadev - 5 years, 5 months ago

I agree that teamwork always produces more results than single tasks. I try to help students in solving global issues. In terms of group work, it seems to me that this leads to universal learning and a collective evaluation structure. We are a team.

Rony Tenks - 6 months, 4 weeks ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$