Building Thinking Classrooms is a research-based teaching framework (developed by Dr. Peter Liljedahl) focused on fostering deep mathematical thinking. It outlines 14 key practices that create optimal conditions for student engagement and problem-solving. In a BTC-aligned classroom, you’ll see:
Students tackle engaging problems that make them think critically, not just memorize procedures
Learners discuss their ideas and strategies, learning from each other through dialogue
Students tackle engaging problems that make them think critically, not just memorize procedures
Magma Math was built with the same goals as BTC: to make student thinking visible and to deepen learning. Here’s how Magma aligns with and supports key BTC principles:
In a thinking classroom, every student’s voice matters. Magma’s digital platform captures each student’s work step-by-step, so their thought process is visible to the teacher and ready to share. Teachers can project student solutions (anonymously if desired) to spark class discussion. This means more students explaining their reasoning and learning from each other, just like BTC encourages.
BTC teachers use vertical whiteboards so students can easily write, erase, and modify their ideas. Magma provides a digital workspace with the same freedom – students can sketch, draw, and solve problems as if on a whiteboard or paper. The difference? All that work is saved and organized. Teachers get a real-time view of every board at once, and they can review or replay a student’s solution later. It’s like having eyes on every whiteboard simultaneously, making it effortless to observe how each student is thinking.
A core BTC practice is giving students challenging tasks and then observing their strategies. Magma’s content library provides rich, open-ended math problems (think mild, medium, and spicy levels of challenge) that push students to think deeply. As students work, Magma gives them immediate feedback on their answers. This instant feedback keeps students in a productive learning zone — they can try different approaches without waiting for the next day’s grading. It’s an excellent complement to BTC’s emphasis on formative assessment and growth.
In a BTC classroom, teachers circulate and ask questions rather than giving away answers, gauging understanding along the way. Magma enhances this by giving teachers real-time analytics on student progress. At a glance, you can see who’s stuck, who’s ready for a tougher problem, and what misconceptions might be forming. This means you can intervene at just the right moment with a hint or a question, mimicking the BTC style of responsive teaching but with data to back it up. No student gets overlooked, and every student gets the right support.
BTC is all about students discovering different paths to a solution and learning from those differences. With Magma, collecting and sharing diverse student solutions is easy. After students solve a problem, you can quickly select a few interesting approaches from the dashboard and display them for the class. Because work can be shown anonymously, even shy students feel safe contributing. This leads to rich discussions: Why did these solutions all get the right answer? How were they different? What can we learn from each approach? Magma basically gives you a digital gallery walk of student thinking, reinforcing the BTC culture of collective learning.
Curious how this looks in practice?
Request a Live DemoReal teachers and school leaders have seen the impact of combining BTC with Magma Math
"Magma Math is a brilliant companion to the knowledge transference component of BTC. Students can consolidate learning by completing hand-picked mild, medium, or spicy questions and the teacher can use the data from the heat map to drive future instruction."
Mrs. Melanie Anderson
6th Grade Teacher, Salk Middle School
"For teachers who are using BTC and are looking for support with easily identifying and using check-your-understanding questions, Magma Math is an excellent resource. It not only helps you to easily select leveled (mild, medium, and spicy) questions, it provides you with immediate feedback on how each individual student is performing, thereby allowing you to provide the individual and just-in-time support students need to transfer their collective knowing and doing into individual knowing and doing."
Dr. Peter Liledhal
Founder & Lead Researcher, for Building Thinking Classrooms
These are just a couple of the success stories from educators who blended Building Thinking Classrooms strategies with Magma Math’s platform. The results?
More engaged students, deeper discussions, and clearer insights into learning.
We’ve gathered some valuable resources to help you explore the BTC framework and see how Magma Math fits in. Whether you’re ready to act now or just beginning to learn, there’s something here for you:
Explore how Magma Math supports the Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC) framework by emphasizing student-centered learning.
Delve into innovative grading practices within BTC, to ensure students progress in skill mastery.
Focusing on formative assessment, this article explores tiered 'Check Your Understanding' assignments in Magma.
Dive into insights on effective lesson closure techniques within the BTC framework.
Building Thinking Classrooms + Magma Math = Engaged, Empowered, and Thinking Students. If you’re excited to elevate your math instruction, we’re here to help you take the next step:
Our team is here to support you in blending BTC practices with Magma. Contact us anytime for expert advice or to chat with a fellow educator who’s already on this journey. Let’s build thinking classrooms together!