Collegiate Receives Grant to Support Spatial and Mathematical Competency

Collegiate’s Trina Clemans, Director of Economic and Entrepreneurship Education, and the late Daniel Bartels, Director of STEAM and Robotics Program Leader, formed a partnership with Alex Wolf and Vijal Parikh of na2ure and university researchers David Uttal and Herb Ginsburg to compete in the 2022-2023 Tools Competition, a multi-million dollar competition for edtech innovation that leverages digital technology, big data and learning science to meet the urgent needs of learners worldwide.

Our team was awarded $100,000 in September 2023 to develop an interactive platform based on na2ure’s Pattern Alphabet to support spatial and mathematical competency building for learners and educators through playful engagement with our natural world’s complex patterns.

The 2022-2023 competition generated more than 1,000 proposals from 73 countries, with the 32 winners hailing from institutions and organizations across North America, Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa. 

Winning teams recognized and supported as part of the Tools Competition are tackling solutions to improve students’ K-12 math competency following the sharpest declines in decades, address equity in education and bolster students’ problem-solving and emotional skills. Collegiate joins teams from 12 countries being awarded more than $4 million to develop and expand tools that will impact learners by 2026.