Big Ideas Learning, founded in 2008 by renowned math textbook author, Dr. Ron Larson, is a leading publisher of content-rich educational programs that provide a cohesive, coherent, and rigorous mathematics curriculum to empower teachers and support student learning from kindergarten through high school.
Dr. Ron Larson has authored award-winning math titles since 1978 when his 1st edition of Calculus was published. Since then, Ron has written over 50 core mathematics programs from elementary school through Calculus that are used by millions of students each year. His books are recognized for being student-friendly, clear, and concise, while maintaining substantial rigor for all learners.
After seeing success from his writing style at both the college and high school level, Ron recognized the need to expand his philosophy into the elementary and middle school markets. In 2008, Ron collaborated with Dr. Laurie Boswell, a passionate mathematics educator and experienced author, to develop a fresh and innovative instructional program that offers a highly focused, coherent, and rigorous mathematics curriculum. Together, Ron and Laurie serve as the single authorship team of the Big Ideas Math program, creating one voice for students, teachers, and parents from Kindergarten through Algebra 2.
Ron and Laurie use the latest in educational research, along with a body of knowledge collected from expert mathematics instructors, to develop their programs. Big Ideas Math implements the work of researchers from around the world, including Professor John Hattie, whose research on visible learning and student self-assessment is prominently integrated throughout the series. By incorporating Hattie’s research, Big Ideas Math programs encourage a growth mindset in students and teachers alike. The instructional design guides students to take control of their learning—from surface-level to deep-level—and encourages them to transfer these skills to real-life situations. From the user-friendly designs to the flexible technology, Big Ideas Math programs are intentionally designed to inspire confidence in teachers and students to achieve success in math.
Big Ideas Learning partnered with National Geographic Learning in 2017 to be the sole distributor of the Big Ideas Math programs.
Our Team
Our professional team of experienced education consultants can provide customized professional development workshops ranging from initial implementation sessions to multi-day training seminars, depending on the school district's individual needs. Contact us for more information.
"Differentiation is huge because in my class I have one kid who is here, and I have one who is at like a 3rd grade level. So having that differentiation option and the resources that are attached online or in the book is huge."
Differentiation
K-5 MRL
"I always look at her notes before we start any lesson, because, that's what they're there for. She's the expert on it, and sometimes she'll think of something I didn't, and so let me try it to see how it works."
Laurie's Notes
K-5 MRL
"Since we started using it we have noticed our math scores have really gone up. So it seems it's really working. Obviously you have to be able to teach it, so it's not just the program, but giving us the right tools to use has definitely helped opposed to what we were using before."
Student Success
K-5 MRL
"Not going to lie, Math has not always been my favorite, but since we started using Big Ideas Math I'm looking forward more every day to teaching math because I know I have a good resource that's going to get my kids excited."
Teacher Empowerment
K-5 MRL
"I absolutely love the Dig In portion because it's always like a fun activity that gets the kids interested in what we're going to do. As a teacher it's nice that that is there to get them involved and excited no matter what type of learner you have, so we really like to dig in."
Dig-In
K-5 MRL
"It's not scripted in a way that says 'this is what you have to say' or it's not going to work. It's really nice to have that flexibility because for one kid it might work this way but for another kid that way or language isn't going to work. I love how there are multiple different strategies but by the end the kid can pick which works best for them."
Instructional Design
K-5 MRL
"And with all of the different levels of practice that it lets them do starting with Laurie's Notes and that dig in, then follows that 'I do, you do, we do model,' their confidence has grown because they know we're going to start our whole group, if I can do that then they ask "can I do it myself?" So by the time we're done they literally want to go 'look what I can do, I can't wait to go home and show somebody what I can do!'"
Student Confidence
Dewey L. Carter Elementary School
"It gives each lesson or chapter a structure. So for first grade, structure is really important, they thrive on consistency. Laurie puts it in a certain order because she knows it works. So that consistency throughout the lesson has helped a lot with students staying engaged because they know what's coming next."
Rigor
K-5 MRL
"They love how they are kind of woven throughout the chapters. They go and look for them, they go "what are Newt and Desi going to tell us this time?" They absolutely love it, so we've seen a lot of improvements in their interest in math, because they really like the characters. They like that it doesn't use names in the problems, it says you or your friend, or your teacher, so it helps them see themselves more in the problem as opposed to when it uses a name that they're not familiar with. Because then it helps that they can read it more, because in first grade they can't read names really well but they can read 'you' and 'the teacher.' So our students have absolutely loved it."
Instructional Design
K-5 MRL
"Last year was such a good experience, I've been teaching, this is my 26th year. And I can honestly say it's more closely aligned than any textbook I've ever used in my 26 years of teaching, as far as standards are concerned."
Standards
K-5 MRL