<aside> 💡 Brilliant is full of fun, challenging, and interactive content that will give your students the opportunity to think deeply and explore concepts. Brilliant is not meant to replace your core curriculum, but to serve as a supplemental tool that helps you engage your students in their STEM learning journey. Brilliant is not an assessment platform. We hope that you and your students enjoy our inquiry-based approach to core content and investigating topics not always found in a school setting!
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Why? Educators ******know students benefit from engaging with rich and compelling tasks - and appreciate when those tasks are scaffolded to be approachable to all learners. Puzzles are designed to produce intrigue and can spark discourse on the multiple methods to solve a Puzzle. Each Puzzle starts with a quick overview of the concept, often through an example problem. It then contains one complex but approachable question.
When? Puzzles ******are an excellent way to get the thinking started in your classroom as soon as the students walk in the door. Each Puzzle takes 5-10 minutes to complete.
How? Using Puzzles requires minimal preparation, only adding students to your Brilliant classroom and selecting a Puzzle. With over 1,000 Puzzles to choose from, we've created a spreadsheet to make finding the perfect Puzzle for your classroom a breeze. You can sort by subject and difficulty, filter by relevant courses, and preview the challenge with a short description.
"My gifted math students love the challenge of solving the Puzzles. The fact that many of the problems can be solved with multiple different strategies enriches our classroom conversations." - Middle School Teacher, Colorado
Why? Brilliant's enrichment courses provide a library of interesting concepts that will motivate students to develop their analytical thinking and problem-solving skills.
When? Since students can work on these courses independently at their own pace, the enrichment courses can be used flexibly. They are great for early finishers, or for your students who do not need remediation during a review day. If you have an enrichment block, these courses are excellent as discourse starters as well!
How? Using Brilliant for enrichment requires no daily preparation. After the initial setup, students can independently work through a course. You can instruct them to work on a particular enrichment course or allow them to choose from any of the courses you have added to their classroom. If you would like to know what your students are working on, the Progress Monitoring feature will keep you up to date, and let you know how much time your students are spending on our site.
"I use it with the 70+ students I teach in Pre-Algebra and Algebra (6th and 8th graders). Mainly as an enrichment assignment the day after a quiz. I ask them to do a couple of Brilliant quizzes each time. I really love the content and structure. It gets away from "process" and into why and how concepts are connected." - Middle School Math Teacher, North Carolina
"Students range in ability and experience with concepts. Brilliant works great for inspiring students who might have thought of math as boring. The wide ranging courses are great for offering enrichment at many levels." - High School Math Teacher, Illinois
Why? Brilliant's courses are full of "low floor - high ceiling" tasks that can push even your most ambitious learners! For example, a Geometry teacher might choose Beautiful Geometry which builds off concepts they will learn in a Common Core aligned classroom to discover another universe of applied Geometry.
When? Extension lessons are great for independent students who have already mastered the core curriculum. Many educators use Brilliant as a 'reward' for students who complete an assignment or test ahead of schedule. Another common use is to have a whole class work on a course as an extension activity after the completion of a unit.