At first glance, the biggest change in Leanna Pitsoulakis’ Honors Math 1 classroom at Carl Sandburg High School isn’t on the walls. It is on the tables.
Instead of neat rows of desks facing forward, students gather around large whiteboard-topped tables, markers in hand. Some stand, some sit. All are talking.
The redesigned setup, funded by a $1,000 grant from the District 230 Foundation, is doing more than changing the look of the room. According to Pitsoulakis, it is also changing results. Comparing seven summative assessments from last year’s Honors Math 1 class to this year’s, she recorded an average increase of 4.57% in student scores.
The data reflects just one semester and a relatively small sample size, but the early gains are encouraging.
“With whiteboard tables, both standing and sitting, we give students the space and tools to collaborate, move and share ideas freely,” Pitsoulakis said. “It’s not just about making math more fun. It’s about helping students develop skills that last a lifetime, teamwork, communication and creative problem-solving.”
The concept is simple. Traditional desks and paper worksheets have been replaced with large, shared writable surfaces. The impact, she said, reaches deeper.
Students solve equations side by side, sketch diagrams that stretch across the table and talk through missteps in real time. Because answers can be erased instantly, mistakes feel less permanent and less intimidating.
Pitsoulakis said that shift has led to greater persistence, especially when students encounter difficult problems. Instead of copying procedures into notebooks, they explain their thinking aloud, revise strategies and build solutions together.
Freshman Fatima Wardeh said the difference is noticeable.
“I hate paper now,” Wardeh said with a laugh. “There is very little space on it, and the whiteboard tables are much clearer and larger for me to see my work. I did a problem during a quiz on the paper, checked it, and I was wrong. Ms. P told me to try it on the whiteboard instead, and then I got it right.”
The extra space and ability to quickly revise her thinking made the solution click, she said.
Freshman Anna Mraz said the tables help her better visualize complex concepts.
“I like using the whiteboard tables because it allows me to show my work better and more clearly,” Mraz said. “It allows me to learn better because I actually am doing the work myself and not just copying it into a note packet.”
She recently used the tabletop to draw and expand a large triangle during a lesson, extending lines to find missing angles.
“I wouldn’t have had that space on the paper,” she said.
Pitsoulakis believes the low-stakes nature of writing on a whiteboard, where errors can be wiped away without a trace, also reduces anxiety, particularly during assessments. Students are more willing to attempt challenging problems because revision is built into the process.
She cautions that one semester of data is not definitive and hopes the gains will continue as the collaborative model becomes routine.
In a subject often associated with silent concentration and individual work, her classroom hums with conversation. Markers squeak, students gesture across diagrams and solutions take shape in bold strokes.
Pitsoulakis said the goal goes beyond a percentage point increase.
“When students stop just mimicking steps and start thinking for themselves,” she said, “that’s when the real learning happens.”