EdTech Entrepreneur Creating Her Own Reality

Still, even with increased program attention, STEM has lacked a certain long-term appeal to attract young women and even young men to pursue STEM-based careers.

For MIT graduate and former educator Anurupa Ganguly, part of the STEM gap issue may lie in enhancing math concepts in a spatial context to encourage greater numbers of students to grasp and maintain essential concepts.

After witnessing a drop-off in STEM pursuits by fellow students in college, Ganguly recognized a key factor behind the development. Many students were discouraged by learning models focused on reproduced memorization rather than creating and contributing knowledge. She channeled that enlightenment into her teaching career, soon realizing that teachers and administrators were missing the tools necessary to build learning models that would confidently advance the mindsets and learning of students.

Surgically and methodically, Ganguly researched and examined the top indicators of success in post-secondary STEM. Spatial thinking (rotating 3D objects in the mind) and abstract reasoning emerged as prominent themes. With the advancements in present-day technology, she soon realized the tools for this type of learning could be produced at scale.

These efforts led to her becoming the founder and CEO of Prisms of Reality (Prisms), a virtual reality (VR) platform that provides math learning through movement, experience, and meaningful discovery. Her new approach is quickly gaining industry friends and customers as she and her team challenge conventional approaches to math experiences.

Original source: https://www.forbes.com/