The education sector, across the globe, has made a concerted effort to more thoughtfully build STEM curricula and school-based activities that are inclusive of girls and, more specifically, girls of color. 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.

Math proficiency represents a key reason for disengagement in STEM pursuits, and Prisms is providing learning centered on how our brains are wired experientially. Using 3D teaching methods based on spatial and physical abstraction, the methodology connects to students’ life experiences for greater proficiency and understanding.

Adhering to best practices pedagogy, Prisms also uses immersive, tactile environments that add real-world problem solving and personalized learning with high-impact analysis for the educator.

This reporter enjoyed spending time with Anurupa Ganguly in an interview for a podcast episode on her intriguing approach to math learning. While much was shared during the podcast, the following interview represents even more insight from our carryover conversation.

Rod Berger: What is it, historically, about math curriculum and deployment that creates a wake of opportunity for Prisms and other providers looking to disrupt the ‘institution’ of math education?

Anurupa Ganguly: First, let’s be clear about the heartbreaking results that the institution of math education has yielded in the United States over many decades. Only a third of U.S. students achieve basic math proficiency—this number drops to fewer than 1 in 5 for students experiencing poverty.

One study showed that only 4% of U.S. 9th graders actually go on to achieve a STEM degree in college or university, let alone the percentage that matriculate into a STEM career.

While pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies in engineering at MIT, it was especially a disappearing act for aspiring female engineers and engineers of color in my program. We know these statistics do not reflect the enormous latent talent in our country, so we have to ask, “What is the root cause of these unacceptable outcomes?”

First, how often have we heard our students ask, “Why do I have to learn this?” Secondary mathematics programs have primarily delivered sterile curricula that divorced students’ math education from their own humanity and typically inherent desire to work on the world’s greatest problems. The world’s most significant issues require extraordinary mathematicians, engineers, scientists, and other technical experts to solve them.

Secondly, U.S. mathematics has been scatter-shot in the levers we’ve pulled to improve over time. We have not focused on what the learning science tells us about the cognitive processes that drive postsecondary outcomes in math and STEM. Those processes put simply, are the ability to spatially reason and the ability to reason abstractly.

Other nations have made dramatic progress by applying what we know to be true from research about the drivers of strong academic and career outcomes, and we can, too.

In this same vein, we also know how students learn math best experientially. I love to paraphrase Albert Einstein, who articulated that his mathematical thinking was “muscular” and that while he’d forget information told to him, he learned deeply from his experiences.

In math education, we employ an experiential, physical approach to learning when kids are young, but this tragically drops off at the upper elementary and secondary levels. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Berger: If the adoption of technologies like Prisms becomes commonplace, how will the teaching profession have to adjust to ‘meet’ students in the world you and others have opened?

Ganguly: We already see Prisms dramatically impact our teachers’ work and experience, but we think it’s important to frame the teacher’s journey here. This is not about pulling teachers kicking and screaming into a new era; it’s not about overcoming resistance. Instead, it’s about empowering teachers to do what they signed up to do: Deliver a world-class learning experience that allows students to unlock their potential and pursue their wildest dreams.

At Prisms, most of us are former STEM educators and administrators—we recognize that teachers will always be among the most important drivers of student outcomes. The opportunity Prisms presents to teachers is to finally be equipped with an approach that scales best practice teaching methodologies after years of being expected to construct castles of learning without adequate tools.

Yes, teachers will have to upskill for this reality to be commonplace. They need a baseline fluency in virtual reality hardware and classroom integration and a deep understanding of the underlying pedagogy. They need the training to convert a powerful learning experience in VR to classroom discourse that is just as powerful from the headset.

But all is doable and even joyful when the will is there. We have seen it in abundance across our largest Title I to our smallest rural districts.

To quote one of our 30-year veteran teachers in Ohio, “I have the enthusiasm and excitement of a green first-year teacher. Where have you been all my life?”

Berger: Math education used to be something students endured—what are the possibilities for young people in a world Prisms already has and is building?

Ganguly: We envision a dramatic re-engagement of our students with their education. Our students, many for the first time, will find a profound sense of purpose in their math learning and their lives.

Anurupa Ganguly recognizes that exceptional mathematicians, engineers, scientists, and other technical experts are needed to solve problems globally. But to find the candidates to meet the challenges might just come down to a shift inside STEM education that better integrates the importance of spatial reasoning and abstraction to the overall learning process.

With the U.S. falling behind other nations in math education, it comes to reason that new technology-based VR advancements to learning may carry a needed boost to a stagnant field in search of answers.

Anurupa Ganguly is not waiting around for the establishment to figure things out. She’ll see you in a classroom, boardroom, or virtual room. And, she’ll be in charge.

Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.