The Magic & Joy of Exploding Dots

By Kiran Ananthpur Bacche

In October 2017, over one million students and teachers from 168 countries and territories were transfixed by a universal story that together, they explored. In Tanzania, a class gathered excitedly around the chalkboard as the teacher began to tell the story. New York City high schoolers drew illustrations on a whiteboard. Ponytailed elementary school girls in Saudi Arabia animatedly explored the key ideas using colorful magnetic dots. In Romania, middle grade students played with the online version on their laptops, exclaiming aloud at each new twist. And in Zimbabwe, students recreated the story for themselves using nothing but pebbles and hollows dug into the ground.

What kind of a story is this that has the power to engage students all over the world, transcending language, borders, and technology? Why, it's a story of the deeply human endeavor of mathematics!

It's the mathematics of Exploding Dots!