Kurt Spindler, right, and Shaopeng Zhang work with Diamon Curry, a student at Gilbert Stuart Middle School, during a lesson on programming. Credit: Mike Cohea/Brown University

By Richard Lewis

Bootstrap, a nonprofit educational organization, pairs Brown undergraduates with middle-school students in Brown computer classrooms. The kids show up after school to learn how to make animations, video games, and other cool stuff. What they're actually getting is substantial help with mathematics.

Madavin Vong’s eyes lit up as the blue rocket spewed a puff of cartoonish smoke and lifted off on her computer screen.

“Yeah!” she exclaimed. “We ...