Empowering students to see the world through data

When David Morningstar, math teacher at Classical Academy in San Diego, first explored Youcubed’s curriculum through Gradient Learning, it felt like the perfect plot twist.

“I had just finished reading Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler,” he recalled. “And then this curriculum lands on my desk. It was one of those serendipitous moments. Everything I had just underlined in the book was suddenly right in front of me, ready to be used in my classroom.”

Youcubed’s philosophy immediately resonated. Its message, that everyone is a math person, and that math is about exploration, not memorization, was exactly what Morningstar wanted for his students.

“It just made sense,” he said. “The way [Youcubed] approached math was exactly how I wanted my students to experience it—not as something that lives in a textbook, but as something that lives in their world.”

For many of Morningstar’s students, who enter his class believing they’re “not math people,” that shift has been powerful. And with Gradient Learning’s tools and coaching, Morningstar helps his students see themselves as capable, curious problem solvers.

From textbook to turntables: making data personal

That shift became especially clear when Morningstar reached Youcubed’s playlist unit. He saw an opportunity to connect math to something his students already loved: music.

“You could see it click for them. It wasn’t just about math. They were uncovering how technology comes into their daily lives.”

There’s a moment every music lover knows: you hit shuffle, and somehow the same song plays twice. It feels random—but is it?

With Gradient Learning’s platform enabling exploration and data collection, Morningstar’s class dove into the math and ethics behind the algorithms shaping their daily lives. Students began asking: How does Spotify know what I like? Is it really random?

By collecting and analyzing their own listening data, students saw math come alive through something personal and meaningful.

“You could see it click for them,” Morningstar said. “It wasn’t just about math. They were uncovering how technology comes into their daily lives.”

That’s the power of Youcubed’s curriculum. “You can come in thinking you hate math, and before you realize it, you’re doing math—you’ve just been tricked into it through something you care about.”