“Will I need to draw it for you to understand?” This phrase applies to many occasions, but a North American company took it literally to improve mathematical literacy in schools through virtual reality. Using headsets to teach algebra and geometry, Prisms VR managed to attract investments worth around 12,5 million dollars.
The project Prisms was launched in 2021, amid much speculation behind the metaverse and virtual reality, and in the midst of a challenging pandemic period. The initiative arose from the challenge of teaching mathematics in a simple, playful and comprehensive way for this new moment in humanity. In this way, the company provides visual and tactile learning to solve problems described in the classroom.
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This is considered the first education technology platform to use virtual reality in teaching mathematics in the USA. Based on this argument, the Andressen Horowitz, a venture capital company that invests in startups around the world, decided to inject more than 12 million dollars to boost the project.
Anurupa Ganguly is a mathematics professor and CEO of Prisms. According to her, the initiative came about to make mathematics teaching more accessible. In an interview with GamesBeat She commented that as an educator she always had difficulties teaching about mathematical concepts: “teachers and children are fed up with how mathematics teaching has been”.
The company's billing model is based on software subscriptions. In this way, the school is sold the complete method used with virtual reality. According to Ganguly, the activity of learning with the platform is more fun and leads to deeper knowledge about the topics:
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“Prisms is the first learning solution that empowers students to experience real-life issues with their bodies, rather than reading about them separate from personal experience. They are able to build shorthand abstractions from intuitive visual and tactile experiences, which lead to lasting retention and deeper understanding,” she says.
Group that invested in the startup that teaches mathematics in VR does not usually put money into edtechs
With an adapted teaching method and responding to students' “whys”, Prisms was the first startup in the educational sector (edtech) to receive investments of this level from the venture capital company that has already invested in companies such as Roblox, Slack and Pinterest.
Jeff Jordan, general partner at Andreesen Horowitz, said “educational technology that is effective at scale is hard to find. We believe the team behind Prisms has pioneered a new approach capable of leveraging VR technology to teach students the way they learn best.”
With the money invested in Prisms, the CEO points out that the money will be used to expand programs to more schools and develop products in higher education and other disciplines.
The VR teaching module is available in the Meta Quest store and its annual subscription costs $24.
