---
title: AI Goes to School for Math-Instruction Study
date: 2025-10-30T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/ai-goes-to-school-for-math-instruction-study"
section: Articles
---
# AI Goes to School for Math-Instruction Study

*October 30, 2025* — by [John Tucker](/author/john-tucker)


> Researchers to Create Database of A+ Classroom Teaching

[AI at Maryland | M-Powering Teachers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBinsT6d5Yc)



Inside a North Carolina middle school classroom, a video camera swivels on its tripod while five microphones capture clues to the age-old question: How do you teach math to kids?

Recordings from this lesson by teacher Mitchelle McLeod and many more like it from across the United States are being fed into an artificial intelligence (AI) program trained to spot instances of student engagement and the teaching practices that elicit learning.

It’s part of a project funded by a $4.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation/Walton Family Foundation and led by the University of Maryland’s Center for Educational Data Science and Innovation (EDSI) with the goal of developing an innovative platform that fosters continuous growth and improves teaching experiences. The project uses AI to provide real-time, personalized feedback to educators to refine their skills and enhance student success.

The three-year UMD effort is led by education policy Associate Professor and EDSI Director Jing Liu, and initially supported by a [Grand Challenges Team Project Grant](https://research.umd.edu/equity-k12) awarded to help educators fight the national trend since the COVID-19 epidemic of falling elementary- and middle-school math scores.

Join Maryland education researchers as they explore the future of teaching and learning in the latest installment of “[Enterprise: University of Maryland Research Stories](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoGjqglwdLfzO1QmPWl5iCadBKw1mQ_sZ).”



**Sidebar note:**

**AI at Maryland**  
The University of Maryland is shaping the future of artificial intelligence by forging solutions to the world’s most pressing issues through collaborative research, training the leaders of an AI-infused workforce and applying AI to strengthen our economy and communities.  
  
Read [more](https://today.umd.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence) about how UMD embraces AI’s potential for the public good—without losing sight of the human values that power it.





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Artificial Intelligence](https://today.umd.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence), [Education Policy and Leadership](https://today.umd.edu/topic/education-policy-and-leadership), [Mathematics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/mathematics), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Education](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-education)