Thinking
Mathematics
James Tanton (PhD, Mathematics, Princeton) is an educator and international consultant transforming how the world experiences mathematics.
With over 20 years of classroom teaching and 15 years of consulting, his mission is to create streamlined, joyful math units that foster deep thinking, agency, and personal growth. Through innovative programs (take, for example, his approach to place value that spans grade school arithmetic, high school polynomial algebra, and beyond), James has inspired over 7.9 million students and teachers worldwide, proving that mathematics is not just a subject but a gateway to creativity, confidence, and success.
Whether you’re an educator, administrator, or supervisor, James is here to help bring deep mathematical understanding and true learning joy to you and your students.
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James is co-Founder of the Global Math Project,
an initiative to change the world's perception of what mathematics can be.
Up and Coming
Be on the lookout!
A new online course for educators in collaboration with ASU's Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation:
Creating Radical Joy in your Mathematics Classroom.
A new book with CORWIN under contract. Tentative title:
The WHY of mathematics: Understanding the nuances, subtleties, and challenges of ... Arithmetic.
A refreshing and new Algebra I curriculum with SmartWithIt.
Workshops and Curriculum Thinking
People typically reach out to me with a broad question, such as:
James! Can you visit our school and help us make trigonometry (or fractions, logarithms, the area model—any school math topic) meaningful and joyful for everyone?
And I do my best to answer YES!
But to clarify, by "discuss," I mean rolling up our sleeves and doing mathematics together. We’ll explore why humans were inspired to engage with this work in the first place, strip away the curriculum clutter that obscures the simple, natural, and common-sense thinking behind it, and bring joy, meaning, purpose, ease, and kindness to the student experience.
We won’t just talk about doing math—we’ll do math!
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Most Popular Topics:
* Exploding Dots: The story of place value throughout the entire curriculum, and beyond!
* Quadratics: Their algebra and their graphs
* Trigonometry
* Fractions: How to help high schoolers
* Patterns: What to do if you trust them; What to do if you don't!
* Exponents and Logarithms
* Proportional Reasoning
See my Curriculum Vitae for all the work I have done.
Videos
I have two YouTube channels chock full of curriculum related materials, along general puzzles and delights from the wonders of mathematics.
Current YouTube Channel.
Embarrassing Old Channel with old old videos.​
