The MathHappens Foundation has been “putting the M in STEM Since 2014”, but in the past year they’ve greatly expanded their reach by establishing Math Rooms in children’s museums all over the United States. The most recent opening of a Math Room took place on November 1, 2025 at the Louisiana Children’s Museum (LCM) in New Orleans. It was such an exciting event that it even got a spot on the local TV station! Have a look— see 3:42 for a mention of Geometiles:
So much of what was said in the segment struck a chord in me.
“This is a no pressure approach. It’s …learning what work and what doesn’t work,” says Olivia Vidal, the host. That is exactly what happens when children play with well-designed hands-on learning materials. Rather than being told that they are “wrong”, they learn by their physical experience. They learn, for example, that that shapes are not equal when they don’t fit; they learn that weights that are not equal don’t balance each other. The learning is self-directed and fun, instead of being tedious and punishing.
Stephanie Aubert of LCM said:
“We’ve been really enjoying seeing the caregivers and grandparents engaging with the kids. It’s intergenerational!”
This really captures my feeling of being at the Math Room at the San Diego New Children’s Museum. With so many school children learning much of their math online, it may sometimes be difficult to communicate mathematical ideas between generations who learned math in a completely different way. But when math is tactile and part of our environment, it is natural for whole families to engage with it. The MathHappens Math Rooms are becoming small communities in which people of many different backgrounds engage with math materials together, and we are thrilled to be part of this movement.
To see just how far MathHappens has spread its message, have a look at this map:
There is a set of Geometiles in every one of those yellow and red markers. And that island in the lower right hand corner of the map is St. Thomas, which is pat of the US Virgin Islands— I just love the little geography lesson that comes with this map.
Stay tuned as MathHappens opens more Math Rooms in 2026!