Bring Bootstrap to your School

Would you like to bring Bootstrap to your school or afterschool program? It's easy - and FREE - to get started! Let us know that you're teaching, so we can keep you informed of updates and events in your area.

Want some Professional Development?

We provide workshops and hands-on support for programs, schools and districts. Depending on your location, you may also receieve PD credit for attending. Check out our workshops page to learn more.

Looking for afterschool programs?

Bootstrap has partnered with afterschool programs around the country, such as Citizen Schools, After School All Stars, the Providence After School Alliance, and Upward Bound. If you're not near one of these locations, but know an organization in your area that might be interested in delivering Bootstrap —or even are willing to set it up yourself—please do get in touch!

1. Schedule Your Classes

Bootstrap is designed for 20-30 hours of instructional time, though it can be delivered in formats as short as 15. A lot will depend on the age of your students, their previous exposure to algebra, and how many times a week you'll be working with them! If you're a teacher who'd like to use Bootstrap as a unit in their math or technology course, you'll want to budget 3-4 weeks of consecutive class days. If you're teaching once a week (either in- or after-school), we recommend a minimum of 90min exposure each week, to make there's enough retention from class to class.

2. Find Your Students

If you're a math teacher... Bootstrap is an excellent introduction to algebra for students in grades 6-8. Many teachers also use the program as an algebra enrichment for students in grades 9-10, or as a remedial algebra class for students in higher grades.

If you're a technology teacher... When used as a precursor to the How to Design Worlds or How to Design Programs curriculum, Bootstrap makes for an excellent "first-unit" for a high school or college level course! Students in Bootstrap pick up programming fundamentals like unit-testing and data-modeling, which they can apply to any language you'd like to teach - it even helps for the AP CS Exam!

3. Get the Materials

All of the lesson plans, workbooks, and software are available on our Materials Page - it's all absolutely free!. You'll want to make copies of the student workbooks, and print out some of the various images or handouts referenced in the lesson plans. You'll also want to make sure you have access to enough computers for each pair of students, running a modern browser (IE9, Firefox 5+, or Chrome 10+) OR the no-internet-required desktop software.