For K–12 Math Educators & Coaches

Bringing clarity
to the intersection of
math & technology.

Cutting through the obtuse.

Modern, thoughtful tools and experiences that help educators and coaches bring clarity to the work of teaching mathematics supported by technology — platform-agnostic, always.

Get the Free 5Q Audit ✦ Explore the 3R Method →
Tool
5Q Digital Activity Audit
Five key questions to evaluate any digital math activity — quickly and confidently.
Framework
The 3R Method
Recognize → Reverse-Engineer → Reimagine. A repeatable lens for creating better learning experiences.
Experience
PD for Math Coaches
Platform-agnostic professional development built for today's instructional reality.

Find Your Path

Not sure where to start?

Acutely Curious spans three platforms — each with a distinct purpose. Here's where to go.

🏫
Teachers Pay Teachers

Classroom-Ready Resources

Error analysis activities, intervention resources, and standards-aligned practice tasks ready to use tomorrow.

Debug Glitchy™ Error Analysis Intervention Resources Practice Tasks
Shop on TPT →
📐
Acutely Curious

Frameworks & Deep Thinking

The 3R Method, signature frameworks, thought leadership, and professional development for educators ready to go deeper.

5Q Audit — Free The 3R Method PD & Coaching
Start Here — Free →
🛠️
Etsy

Tools & Systems

AI prompt packs, planning frameworks, and printable systems designed to make your workflow more intentional and efficient.

AI Prompt Packs Planning Frameworks Audit Tools
Browse Etsy →

The Framework

The 3R Method

A clear, repeatable process for designing learning experiences where technology and math thinking work together — so you can build, adapt, and evaluate with confidence.

R
Step 01
Recognize

Identify the qualities that make a math activity genuinely effective — mathematical depth, interactivity, feedback, and student thinking made visible.

R
Step 02
Reverse-Engineer

Deconstruct activities you admire to understand the design decisions behind them — the structure, the constraints, the moments of productive struggle.

R
Step 03
Reimagine

Build your own — or transform existing activities — with intention, using any platform. Because great design transfers across tools.

Platform-agnostic by design.
The 3R Method works whether you're in Desmos, GeoGebra, Edulastic, Google Forms, or anything new. The framework is the constant.
Recognize
What does quality look like?
↓
Reverse-Engineer
Why does it work?
↓
Reimagine
How can I build something better?

Who It's For

Built for the people who build for learners.

📐
K–12 Math Teachers

Create learning experiences where technology is intentional and math thinking is deep — not just digitized.

🔍
Instructional Coaches

Build the shared language and lens your teachers need to evaluate, design, and make intentional instructional choices.

🗺️
Curriculum Specialists

Build platform-agnostic guidelines and examples that hold up as tools inevitably change.

Tools & Experiences

Built to support your work.
Designed to grow your practice.

Acutely Curious makes two kinds of things: Tools — guides, frameworks, and references educators use independently — and Experiences — professional development for educators and interactive math explorations and experiences for students.

Tool
3R Framework Guide

A portable, printable reference that walks you through the full Recognize → Reverse-Engineer → Reimagine process for any learning experience.

Get It → Coming Soon
Tool
AI Instructional Playbook

A comprehensive, math-specific system for using AI thoughtfully in your planning, coaching, and instructional design work.

Get It → Coming Soon
Tool
5Q Digital Activity Audit

A five-question framework for rapidly evaluating the quality of any digital math activity. Free download — get yours below.

Get it free →
Experience
PD for Math Educators

Workshops, courses, and coaching experiences that build lasting capacity for high-quality math instruction and learning experiences — for educators and students alike.

Explore PD →

Classroom-Ready Series on TPT

Debug Glitchy™

Students can follow steps. But can they catch a mistake — and explain exactly why it's wrong?

Debug Glitchy™ is a growing series of error analysis activities where students don't just solve problems — they find the bug in Glitchy's reasoning and fix it. Each set targets a specific math concept, making misconceptions visible and repairable.

✦ Targets specific math concepts — one set at a time
✦ Makes student misconceptions visible and repairable
✦ Supports Math Practice Standard 3 — constructing and critiquing arguments
✦ Works as warm-ups, whole-class discussion, small groups, or intervention
Get It on TPT — $4.00 →
Growing series
Grades 4–8 · New sets added regularly
Debug Glitchy™
Find the bug. Fix the code.
Glitchy the robot
Sample Problem
Glitchy says: ¼ + ½ = 2/8
Where is Glitchy's error? Explain.
Fix the Code
Show Glitchy how to solve it correctly.
Supports Math Practice Standard 3 $4.00
✦
5-Question Digital
Activity Audit
Free Download · PDF Guide
  • 1 Does this activity require mathematical thinking — or just clicking?
  • 2 Is student reasoning visible to the teacher?
  • 3 Does the digital format add something a paper task couldn't?
  • 4 Is feedback immediate, specific, and mathematically useful?
  • 5 Could this activity be adapted across platforms?

Free Resource

Audit any digital activity in under 5 minutes.

The 5Q Digital Activity Audit gives you a clear, fast framework for knowing whether an activity is worth your students' time — and yours.

  • ✓ Works with any platform or tool
  • ✓ No rubric expertise required
  • ✓ Great for coaching conversations
  • ✓ Completely free
Acutely Curious
Philosophy
✦

Technology should amplify math thinking, not just digitize it.

✦

Great design transfers across platforms.

✦

Clarity comes from intention, not more tools.

Cutting through the obtuse.

About Patty

Acutely curious
by nature.

"Acutely Curious creates modern, thoughtful tools and experiences that help educators and coaches bring clarity to the work of teaching mathematics supported by technology."

I'm Patty Stephens — a math educator with 30+ years in K–12, including work as a classroom teacher, curriculum specialist, instructional coach, and state-level math assessment specialist, plus a Master's in Educational Technology.

I built Acutely Curious because educators often have access to technology with little guidance on using it to transform learning experiences. Digitizing a worksheet is not transformative. The 3R Method is my answer to that.

Say Hello →