Welcome to Day 15 of the #24DaysOfAI Appvent Calendar!

A lot of tools in the AI space are broad-stroke tools, ones that can have use across a broad range of subjects. From the likes of Gemini or Copilot, NotebookLM or Brisk. As tools and edupreneurs start to consider AI and how to focus on pedagogy first thinking when it comes to developing solutions, so more mature, considered tools appear.

Today’s appvent reveal, as we sail past the halfway mark on the calendar, focuses purely on the subject of Maths. In a world where there are more drill and repeat tools in the maths space, today’s tool looks more at how to best learn maths, through process rather than product, and in doing so, creates a tool which not only helps young people with their number fluency, but also helps teachers see where every learner is at on that journey. Today’s tool is the brilliant ‘Magma Maths’.

Tool of the Day

Magma Maths isn’t trying to reinvent mathematics education. What it does is take the best bits of traditional maths teaching – the working out, the visual representations, the ability to see student thinking – and makes them work digitally without losing what makes them powerful.

The platform works on any device but really comes alive on touchscreens. Students write directly on the screen, showing their working just as they would on paper. The difference is, everything they write is captured and made visible to the teacher in real-time through a rather clever dashboard that shows you exactly where every student is at any given moment.

There’s an AI tutor built in – a friendly mascot called Lava that appears after a student’s first incorrect attempt. It doesn’t give answers; it asks questions, offers hints, nudges thinking forward. Brilliantly, Lava also celebrates the process with ‘Orange Thumbs Up’ for good working, not just correct answers. It helps students get unstuck without doing the thinking for them. For teachers, the AI tools generate differentiated problem sets and reduce the endless hunt for resources, whilst the heatmap shows you when students have used Lava’s help, making AI assistance transparent rather than hidden.

Educational Benefits

The main benefit here is visibility. In a traditional classroom, you can look at one student’s book at a time. With Magma, you see everyone’s thinking simultaneously through their heatmap feature. Red columns show you instantly where misconceptions are forming across the class.

This visibility transforms how you teach. Instead of discovering mistakes when marking books later, you catch them as they happen. You can pause the lesson, pull up anonymous student work, and use it for discussion. The platform captures not just answers but the entire problem-solving journey from every crossed-out attempt, every diagram, every method tried.

For students, the benefit is getting help that doesn’t rob them of learning. The AI scaffolding keeps them in their zone of proximal development; challenged but not defeated. They maintain ownership of their learning while getting support when genuinely stuck.

Practical Application

The real power comes from using Magma to support existing good practice. Think mini-plenaries where you spot half the class struggling with question 3, so you pause and project three different student approaches anonymously for discussion. No one’s embarrassed; everyone learns from seeing different methods.

The platform supports differentiation naturally. Create mild, medium, and spicy versions of problems. Students self-select their challenge level. The AI generation tools mean you’re not spending hours creating these resources – prompt it properly, and it does the heavy lifting.

The replay feature is particularly powerful for understanding student thinking. You can literally watch a student’s solution unfold stroke by stroke. It’s like having a window into their mathematical reasoning. Use this for your own assessment, or better yet, show it to the class to discuss where a method went wrong despite starting well.

Considerations and Tips

Hardware matters more than usual here. While Magma works on any device, it’s significantly better with stylus input. The cognitive connection between hand and brain when writing mathematics is real, and typing just isn’t the same.

Don’t treat this as a set-and-forget homework tool. Magma works best when you’re actively monitoring during lessons, spotting patterns in the heatmap, and intervening strategically. If you’re not watching the dashboard, you miss some great learning and teaching opportunities.

Remember to celebrate process over product. Use the anonymise feature liberally. Show solutions that used brilliant methods but got the wrong answer. Build a classroom culture where thinking is valued over just getting the green tick.

Conclusion

Magma Maths gets it right because it enhances good teaching rather than trying to replace it. By giving you visibility of student thinking while preserving the handwritten, worked-through nature of mathematical problem-solving, it’s a great solution (and from what I’ve seen at the trusts I work with where they’re using Magma, pupils love it as much as the teachers – check out the Woodland Academy Trust AI report for evidence of this).

Like the sound of Magma? You can find out more by visiting their website here.

Check back tomorrow for Day 16!

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