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Our mission

Bootstrap is a standards-based curriculum for middle and high-school students, which teaches them to program their own videogames using purely algebraic and geometric concepts. Our curriculum and software is used by educators around the country to bring technology and real math instruction together in the classroom.

Our students

Bootstrap reaches hundreds of middle-schoolers each year, of whom 24% are female; 40% of those reporting race are African-American and another 30% Latino; and 70% receive free or reduced price lunch. Most Bootstrap students are between 12 and 15 years old, and live in urban communities across the US (East Palo Alto, New York City, South Boston, Providence, Chicago, etc). However, Bootstrap has also been used with younger children as part of a GT program, with 16- and 17-year-olds as a remediation program, and also by teachers in diverse settings that include rural or suburban schools.

Our algebra connection

In contrast to the goals of most programming classes, Bootstrap is built from the ground up to use algebra as the vehicle for creating images and animations. While many programming languages use terms like functions and variables, they actually refer to concepts that are totally incompatible with algebra. This makes it hard for students to apply what they've learned through programming to what they encounter in math class, and can have unintended consequences for their mathematical reasoning! In Bootstrap, functions and variables behave exactly the way they do in mathematics, and are subject to the same rules.

Bootstrap's lesson plans, activities and projects are carefully aligned to state standards. Bootstrap lessons cover mathematical topics that range from simple arithmetic expressions to the Pythagorean Theorem, Discrete Logic, Function Composition and the Distance Formula. The program is based on cognitive science research and best practices for improving critical thinking and problem solving.

Click here to see a comprehensive list of algebraic topics and state standards that Bootstrap covers, for frameworks from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Texas, and California.

Thanks!

We would like to thank the following, for their volunteer and financial support over the years: Google, as well as the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation, Microsoft, The National Science Foundation, and Jane Street Capital.

If you'd like to contribute

Send a check made out to Brown University to our PI, Shriram Krishnamurthi, at this mailing address. Be sure to include this letter, indicating that you wish for the funds to be put towards Bootstrap. Once your check is received, we'll send you a reciept for your tax records.