Blended learning in school mathematics with digital tools to enhance student understanding

The study examines the impact of blended learning in school mathematics, with a focus on digital enhancements to traditional instruction. As part of the pedagogical experiment, which lasted 8 weeks, 80 students of the tenth grade from three schools in Kyrgyzstan were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. A mixed-methods design was used, combined a pedagogical experiment, comparative analysis, and a supplementary questionnaire survey. Digital platforms (Wolfram Alpha, Photomath, GeoGebra, Desmos, and Compass) were integrated into the experimental group’s curriculum, while the control group used only conventional methods. Comparative analysis of post-test results using the Mastery Coefficient ( K ) revealed a statistically significant advantage for the EG: the EG improved from K = 0.85 to K = 0.96 (Δ K = +0.11), nearly three times the gain observed in the CG ( K = 0.82 to K = 0.86; Δ K = +0.04). The difference in score distributions following the intervention was confirmed as statistically significant \(( {Xₑₘₚ² > Xcrit² ,Xcrit² = 7.815, p < 0.05} )\) , with a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.9). The study’s novelty lies in providing empirical evidence for digitally enhanced mathematics instruction in Central Asia, a context where such models remain largely untested.