6 min read · Updated 2026-10-18
In short
A maths idea lands when the student sees it move and then tries it themselves on the same set-up. Tutors get there with a graphing tool that marks the key points, hands-on models for the early years, worked steps with reasons, a presenting mode for the shared screen, and a link that opens exactly what the tutor showed.
A tutor is explaining how changing a, h and k moves a parabola. They sketch three curves by hand, none quite to scale, while the Year 10 nods politely. At home that night the student opens a graphing website, types the equation slightly differently, gets a different picture and decides they do not understand transformations after all.
The problem is not the tutor's explanation. It is that the picture in the lesson and the picture at home were never the same picture, and the student had no way to play with the idea between the two.
What a good maths tool does for a tutor
- Draws the idea accurately, so the tutor spends the minutes on meaning instead of sketching.
- Lets the student change one thing and watch what moves.
- Shows reasons, not just answers, so the working is the lesson.
- Reads clearly on a shared screen, a projector or a tablet in the student's hands.
- Travels home exactly as it was set up in the lesson.
Graphs that answer back
XTutio's graph plotter takes up to ten lines on one graph: functions, lines in any form, circles, vertical lines and points typed as (x, y). Every intercept, turning point and intersection in view is marked, and tapping one puts its coordinates on the graph. Type y = a(x - h)² + k and a, h and k become sliders with a Play button, so the student watches the whole family of curves move. A finger on a curve traces it, any function can show a table of values of up to 21 rows, and a row of maths keys covers the symbols a tablet keyboard hides.
Hands-on for the youngest, steps for the oldest
There are 22 tools on the list, from Kindergarten to Year 12, filtered by year and syllabus topic area. Younger students get ten frames, MAB blocks they can trade, arrays, a number line they set up, and Australian coins and notes. Older students get an algebra solver that shows every step with its reason and checks the answer by substituting it back, a unit circle with exact values, a probability lab that runs ten thousand trials, and box plots and histograms from pasted data. The calculator is laid out like the scientific one students take into exams.
Show it to the room, then hand it over
Present shows the tool alone, full screen, with the instructions folded away. Projector makes it bigger, bolder and higher in contrast, with text up to twice its size. When the explanation is done, Copy link carries the set-up in the link itself, so the student opens exactly what the tutor showed, at home or on their own tablet in the lesson.
- Picture
Any tool with a drawing has a Picture button.
- Send to lesson board
The picture is drawn on the device and handed to the board.
- Add it
The open board offers it as a new page, ready to write on.
That last step is the one tutors like most. The accurate graph becomes a page on the lesson board, and the tutor annotates over it: circling the turning point, writing the working beside it. In an online lesson the tutor opens the maths tools in a new tab from the classroom, so the picture lands on the board beside it.
What students do on their own
Students open the same tools inside their own portal, starting on their own year, and nothing there is sold to them. They pair well with the maths practice games, which feed every missed fact back for review on a later day.
There is no AI anywhere in the maths tools: what they show is worked out by the tool. Nothing a student does in a tool is uploaded; a set-up lives in its link, and a picture stays in the browser until a board takes it.
A checklist for your tutors
- Each tutor knows where the tools are and has tried Present
- The shared screen or projector set to Projector mode for group lessons
- Graphs and models sent to the lesson board before annotating
- The set-up's link sent to the student after the lesson
- Younger students given the hands-on models before written methods
- Worked steps used to show reasons, not just to check answers
How XTutio helps
The tools come with the portal your tutors already use, on the same screen as their timetable and lesson board, at no extra cost to families. See the maths tools for every tool and how they work in the room.
Questions centres ask
- What maths tools do tutors need?
- An accurate graphing tool, hands-on models for the early years, worked steps that show reasons, and a way to show it all clearly on a shared screen. The best ones also let the student open the same set-up at home.
- How can a tutor share a graph with a student after the lesson?
- Use a tool that keeps the set-up in its link. In XTutio, Copy link sends the graph exactly as the tutor left it, so the student sees the same picture at home.
- Do XTutio's maths tools use AI?
- No. Every graph, step and answer is worked out by the tool itself, and nothing a student does in a tool is uploaded.
