Maria Droujkova

Natural Math

Dr. Maria Droujkova focuses her research and development on learning communities, informal education, online education, advanced mathematics for young children, and game design. She holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from NCSU, and M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Tulane. Dr. Droujkova is a co-founder and director of Natural Math, an educational design, consulting, and publishing company. Stories featuring Natural Math books have appeared at the New York Times, the Atlantic, Science Friday NPR, Creative Commons Team Open, and other news outlets. She has served as a Principal Investigator or a senior researcher on multiple grants and contracts with NSF, DoE, and NASA, as well as corporate and community projects. She publishes and presents her work nationally and internationally. She mentors mathematics educators and prospective book authors, and was the first in the world to organize open online math education courses for parents. Dr. Droujkova’s curriculum design principles include easy complexity (“calculus for five-year-olds”), openness, and kindness. She co-authored “Moebius Noodles” and “Avoid Hard Work”, popular books on mathematical projects and problem-solving for parents, teachers, and math circle leaders.