Posted on 04/09/2011 12:45:57 PM PDT by Sonny M
We all know the standard drill for a math class. The teacher delivers lectures on a new concept, students do some homework problems, and after a few weeks they take an exam. Some do well, some do poorly, and then it's on to the next topic.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Does anyone who has seen it, know if its just left wing junk or Paul Krugman type crap, or is it, actual and accurate and reliable ?
I sampled some of the economics sections and the earlier lessons seemed to be liberal and then as the financial crisis worsened he seemed to become more conservative in his opinions. But again that was a quick impression from a while back.
Khan Academy is cool! I’ve been reviewing my chemistry there....I have forgotten....a lot.
http://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy#p/c/0/1xSQlwWGT8M
They have tests and other cool things on their website.
I’ll be checking the place out. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
This isn’t a homeschooling thread, but an article about a school which trying new approaches to instruction. Homeschooling parents may be interested.
It is a reflex on my part. :) I do appreciate the information though.
“The problem with this model of instruction is that it leaves behind large gaps in understanding. For A students, it might be a 5% gap, for C students a 30% gap.”
This point in the article really got my attention. When I go through Saxon Math with my kids, it’s a ZERO percent gap that I will tolerate. If they get 70% of the problems right, I will make darn sure they understand the other 30%, not 29%, 30%!!! I’m sure Wintertime does the same - there is no way to get your kids 5 years or more ahead of their age peers by allowing ANYTHING to be missed.
I like this guy. Being on this site as long as I have, I get real suspicious when I see the name Khan. But this guy made a big effort to help his cuz’s, and built from there - he is very, very, cool and I admire him.
Is it mostly keynesian or neoclassical ?
He did get a little political on his housing stuff, so I'm wondering what version of that he gave.
Yes, it’s excellent. I homeschool and use kahnacademy.org for math lessons. The short youtube videos work well with short attention spans, and kids with reading disabilities too.
“He did get a little political on his housing stuff, so I’m wondering what version of that he gave.”
I too go off reservation when it comes to the housing meltdown (and toll roads). For housing I actually DO blame deregulation. I simply have seen NO EVIDENCE that those ‘brilliant’ wall street types being able to act responsibly. You had totally TRASH loans that were given AAA ratings. It was so bad that I shorted a bunch of financial firms and rode Countrywide right down to the bottom. These guys were pathetic if a half-ass FReeper could beat them at their own game. They NEED to be regulated.
It is about the time of year to start looking at curriculum.
So this rates for a homeschool ping.
If anyone has any questions or suggestions on curriculum, perhaps we could start a thread on it for those either new to homeschooling or interested in trying something new.
I will make darn sure they understand the other 30%, not 29%, 30%!!! I’m sure Wintertime does the same - there is no way to get your kids 5 years or more ahead of their age peers by allowing ANYTHING to be missed
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Absolutely! If they missed even one problem I wanted to know why that happened. We thoroughly reviewed the concept, and only then did we move forward They carried this habit of achieving 100% mastery with them when they were on their own in college.
Thanks for the info. This appears to be the “Open Source” approach to the “ed biz”. I have long wondered why such a storehouse of “taught subjects” wasn’t available. Why have a not-so-great TEACHER lecturing in front of a classroom, when you can get a GREAT teacher lecturing on video. Let the “not-so-great” lecturer assist with homework, answer questions, etc.
I gave 2 grades an A and a DA (do again). I did not accept anything less than an A.
My son said I was tougher than his freshman college professors.
Can you tell us how to solve this one?
Alice traveled by bus at an average speed of 20 miles per hour. Then she traveled by moped at an average speed of 44 miles per hour. In total, she traveled 216 miles for 6 hours. How many minutes did Alice travel by moped? (Round to the nearest minute.)
Never mind, they got the right answer.
Tell me if this is right.
She said she used reverse multiplication. In otherwords, she started by multiplying what she knew (the speed of the moped and the speed of the bus) by number that added up to 6.
Once she found the right combination of numbers, she multiplied the speed of the moped by 60 (minutes in an hour) and got 240.
Would that work in college?
r*t = d
rate times time = distance
20X = distance traveled by bus 44Y = distance traveled by moped
X+Y = 6 20X + 44Y = 216
Y = 6-x
Substitute in second equation
20X + 44(6-X) = 216 20X + 264-44X = 216
-22X = -48
X = 48/22 = 24/11 = 2 2/11 hours or approx 131 minutes Y = 6-X, Y = 6 - 2 2/11 = 3 9/11 hours or approx 229 minutes
“Absolutely! If they missed even one problem I wanted to know why that happened. We thoroughly reviewed the concept, and only then did we move forward They carried this habit of achieving 100% mastery with them when they were on their own in college.”
Yea, it never made sense to me in college. “Oh, I got an 85, good enough...”. It’s great as a parent, you don’t have to put with your own laziness...you can make junior actually LEARN all the material, rather than ‘enough’ of it.
“I gave 2 grades an A and a DA (do again). I did not accept anything less than an A.
My son said I was tougher than his freshman college professors.”
That is the key...the colleges take a lot of time to put together classes, with the full understanding that the students will actually try to learn everything covered. The students (such as myself) quickly figure out that you only need to learn ‘enough’ to get by. Then we become parents and realize how dumb that approach was.
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