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Math+Apps+LDT alums=Start-up

After graduating from the Learning, Design and Technology program at Stanford Graduate School of Education, Jacob Klein and Gabriel Adauto co-founded their company, Motion Math, which now offers nine games that help children learn fractions, number sense, arithmetic, estimation and other concepts.

Jacob Klein and Gabriel Adauto
Before co-founding Motion Math, Jacob Klein (left) had worked in enterprise software, and Gabriel Adauto in public television for the Lehrer Report.

As any teacher or parent knows, kids can spend hours a day on mobile games and still not get enough. When it comes to learning arithmetic or doing their math homework, however, they're decidedly less enthusiastic.

Five years ago, Gabriel Adauto, ’01, MA ’10, and Jacob Klein, ’01, MA ’10, had an idea for closing this enthusiasm gap: Turn concepts such as place-value, multiplication and fractions into fun apps for tablets and smartphones that challenge kids as much as the best games out there.

Today the two alums of Stanford Graduate School of Education report that their company, Motion Math, is getting some 500,000 K-6ers a month excited about math with a suite of games — including a new one, Cupcakes!, introduced April 16 — that apparently are both educational and fun.

Maybe that's because Adauto and Klein were weaned on Super Mario Brothers, and at 35 they still haven't lost their passion for video games. “On my recent vacation I put in 30 hours on one game alone," laughed Adauto, an expert in enterprise software development who earlier in his career had taught video game design and computer programming to kids.

Klein, who's been an elementary school teacher and a video producer, similarly loves games. He created his first video game in a programming class while a freshman undergraduate at Stanford. “A giant sphere chased you around the screen, shouting stupid insults when it caught you,” he said laughingly. “It received the ‘Most Fun’ award and won me lunch at the faculty club.”

The design duo met in 2009 while master's students in the Learning, Design and Technology (LDT) program at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. “I immediately wanted to work with Gabriel when he brought veggies, cheese and a small cutting board to an early LDT seminar. This is a guy who knows how to enjoy work!” said Klein. When both of them took the course Casual Learning on the iPhone with Professor of Education Shelley Goldman, they knew they wanted to collaborate.

"Motion Math is a great example of how students in the LDT program can bring powerful contemporary ideas about learning the design of technology-based products and settings and make a real difference in the world," said Karin Forssell, LDT’s director. Other graduates of the program have developed games and interactive tools to teach children in India about AIDS, support children with autism, educate young people about cyber bullying, empower kids to create cartoons and share their stories with others around the world, and more.

In looking for a concept that would engagingly marry technology and elementary education, Adauto and Klein homed in on creating a mobile app that would help kids with math. "I tutored students in the subject for five years, and saw how many students are frightened by the subject,” Klein said. Adauto added,  "Math is the language of computers, so it's important to kids’ understanding of the world they're going into.”

As part of their research for the project, the two talked with elementary math teachers and learned that the concept of fractions is often the most difficult thing for kids to learn.

The fruit of their labor was a game that involves “bouncing” a star containing a fraction into its correct spot on a number line. Players must do so by deftly tilting the mobile device –— a function kids love in mobile games — so that the star clicks onto the right place with a minimum number of bounces. The game, inspired by the iPhone game Doodle Jump, which also features a bouncing character controlled by tilt, stimulates kids' kinesthetic sense, bringing abstract concepts to life in their bodies.

The fractions game became the flagship product for their company, Motion Math, which they established upon graduating. It now offers nine games and has more in development. The full suite has over 3.5 million downloads and is available on Apple devices; two are also now available on Android.

The latest game —Cupcake! — was officially rolled out April 16 on the Apps Store on iTunes. It uses the challenge of setting up a cupcake business to teach kids economics, proportions, mental math and the coordinate system.

In keeping with their roots at the GSE, Adauto and Klein said research is affirming that Motion Math games are effective learning tools. A 2013 study led by USC professor Michelle Riconscente and funded by the Noyce Foundation (published in Games and Culture Journal), examined what effect the fractions game had on fifth graders who played it 20 minutes for five days. The study found that the game improved fractions test scores by an average of 15 percent for those students compared with control group members who had not played.

Prior to meeting in Stanford's LDT program, Klein and Adauto were, unbeknownst to them, both Stanford undergraduates at the same time. In 2001, Adauto earned a B.S. in computer science; Klein, in symbolic systems. Adauto, went on to develop his engineering expertise in enterprise software development and simultaneously taught technology classes. Klein became a TV producer, with an award-winning series he co-produced on the Chinese economy appearing on the Lehrer NewsHour. He also tutored students in math and writing, and taught at a KIPP charter school.

Each left a successful career to enroll in the LDT program. “I've always been fascinated by learning and I wanted to see how the science of learning can be applied," said Klein. Adauto explained, “I was seeking new ideas and tools for teaching.”

They both acquired the skills they needed not only to apply technology to education, but also to create an entrepreneurial venture. “Stanford is the ideal place to start a company,” said Klein. “All of the classes provided incredible tools for developing and launching a business, and the Stanford network was amazing.” Introductions by Stanford faculty to investors in Silicon Valley led the pair to their critical seed funding seven months after they graduated and incorporated the company. A recent GSE EdCareers survey of the school’s alumni revealed that one of every three respondents had started a company or nonprofit organization.

Motion Math has expanded to a team of eight full-time employees who work in the company’s offices in downtown San Francisco. Adauto leads the technical team, Klein leads the business side, and both are involved in hiring and design. “As cofounders every day is different — there are so many components to growing a successful business,” said Adauto. “We work hard, but not burnout hard,” said Klein.

The team includes two other classmates the pair met in LDT. Ignacio Schiefelbein has been an artist, designer and programmer for several of the games, while Coram Bryant leads the design of a data platform to measure the effect of Motion Math on player learning.

Motion Math has translated several of its games into languages such as Dutch, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. It has also won an Editor’s Choice Award for Excellence in Design from Children’s Technology Review, as well as recently being mentioned in the Wall Street Journal as an example of an effective educational game.

In the last year, Motion Math has started to focus more on its teacher users. It has developed a dashboard that allow teachers to monitor how students are progressing in the games. “Our emphasis is on creating something that teachers really respect," said Klein.

“We want to make playing, analyzing and creating games a central component of early math education,” said Adauto. 

Klein added: “We're going to continue exploring the possibilities of the learning game medium. There are so many game genres, game mechanics, and elementary math concepts for us to play with. We're also excited about our efficacy platform, which will help us understand how games help children learn and will give teachers valuable information on their students' conceptual understanding.”

This story is by Marguerite Rigoglioso, who writes frequently for Stanford Graduate School of Education publications. It was included in the March/April edition of the GSE's e-newsletter, the Educator.

Updated on April 16 to reflect Motion Math's introducing a ninth game, Cupcakes!.

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