ProductiveMath
AI-powered platform for supporting productive failure in math education.
About the project
ProductiveMath is an AI learning app developed at the University of Florida College of Education with support from a $451,563 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project is led by PI Dr. Seyedahmad Rahimi with co-PIs Dr. Anthony Botelho and Dr. Avery Closser.
ProductiveMath
AI-powered platform for supporting productive failure in math education.
About the project
ProductiveMath is an AI learning app developed at the University of Florida College of Education with support from a $451,563 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project is led by PI Dr. Seyedahmad Rahimi with co-PIs Dr. Anthony Botelho and Dr. Avery Closser.
Prototype Preview
About Research
ProductiveMath is a Gates Foundation funded AI platform designed to help teachers bring productive failure into middle school algebra classrooms. Instead of giving students direct instruction first, productive failure invites them to explore challenging problems, test ideas, make mistakes, and learn through discussion.
The platform helps teachers create story-based algebra problems, adjust difficulty, anticipate student misconceptions, and prepare classroom discussion support while keeping teachers in control of the final design.
About Research
ProductiveMath is a Gates Foundation funded AI platform designed to help teachers bring productive failure into middle school algebra classrooms. Instead of giving students direct instruction first, productive failure invites them to explore challenging problems, test ideas, make mistakes, and learn through discussion.
The platform helps teachers create story-based algebra problems, adjust difficulty, anticipate student misconceptions, and prepare classroom discussion support while keeping teachers in control of the final design.
ProductiveMath is a Gates Foundation funded AI platform designed to help teachers bring productive failure into middle school algebra classrooms. Instead of giving students direct instruction first, productive failure invites them to explore challenging problems, test ideas, make mistakes, and learn through discussion.
The platform helps teachers create story-based algebra problems, adjust difficulty, anticipate student misconceptions, and prepare classroom discussion support while keeping teachers in control of the final design.
Publications
Publications
Rahimi, S., Ercan, D., Gao, R., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Babaee, M., Li, H., Zhang, S., Lee, S., Closser, A., & Botelho, A. F. (2025, July). ProductiveMath: A generative-AI-powered app to support productive failure teaching [Poster presentation]. 26th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, Palermo, Italy. Nominated for Best Poster Award.
Ercan, D., Rahimi, S., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Babaee, M., & Gao, R. (2025, November). Designing an AI-powered platform to support teachers in creating algebra problems for productive failure teaching in K–12 classes [Poster presentation]. Florida Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Fort Myers, FL, United States. Best Graduate Student Poster Award.
Rahimi, S., Babaee, M., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Ercan, D., & Gao, R. (2026, April). Supporting future-ready math classrooms with ProductiveMath: A web-based, human-in-the-loop generative AI tool [Conference presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Rahimi, S., Babaee, M., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Ercan, D., & Gao, R. (2026, June 15–19). ProductiveMath: A research-driven, AI-powered platform for teacher-generated productive failure problems [Demonstration]. International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Irvine, CA, United States.
Rahimi, S., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Ercan, D., Babaee, M., & Gao, R. (2025, November). ProductiveMath: A human-in-the-loop AI web-based application to support teachers in productive failure teaching in algebra [Paper presentation]. Florida Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Fort Myers, FL, United States.
Ercan, D., Rahimi, S., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Babaee, M., & Gao, R. (2025, March). Fail forward: Designing a platform to support productive failure in the classroom [Paper presentation]. University of Florida College of Education Research Symposium, Gainesville, FL, United States.
Rahimi, S., Ercan, D., Gao, R., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Babaee, M., Li, H., Zhang, S., Lee, S., Closser, A., & Botelho, A. F. (2025, July). ProductiveMath: A generative-AI-powered app to support productive failure teaching [Poster presentation]. 26th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, Palermo, Italy. Nominated for Best Poster Award.
Ercan, D., Rahimi, S., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Babaee, M., & Gao, R. (2025, November). Designing an AI-powered platform to support teachers in creating algebra problems for productive failure teaching in K–12 classes [Poster presentation]. Florida Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Fort Myers, FL, United States. Best Graduate Student Poster Award.
Rahimi, S., Babaee, M., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Ercan, D., & Gao, R. (2026, April). Supporting future-ready math classrooms with ProductiveMath: A web-based, human-in-the-loop generative AI tool [Conference presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Rahimi, S., Babaee, M., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Ercan, D., & Gao, R. (2026, June 15–19). ProductiveMath: A research-driven, AI-powered platform for teacher-generated productive failure problems [Demonstration]. International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Irvine, CA, United States.
Rahimi, S., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Ercan, D., Babaee, M., & Gao, R. (2025, November). ProductiveMath: A human-in-the-loop AI web-based application to support teachers in productive failure teaching in algebra [Paper presentation]. Florida Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Fort Myers, FL, United States.
Ercan, D., Rahimi, S., Esmaeiligoujar, S., Babaee, M., & Gao, R. (2025, March). Fail forward: Designing a platform to support productive failure in the classroom [Paper presentation]. University of Florida College of Education Research Symposium, Gainesville, FL, United States.