Archive for the ‘Math’ Category

“Why Some Educators Are Questioning Khan Academy”

Sunday, August 26th, 2012

It has been pretty fascinating to watch the Khan Academy videos infiltrate thousands of math classrooms, almost without a second thought. And while Khan has impeccable academic credentials, I’ve always wondered why lecture videos have been so revolutionary. Audrey Watters at HackEducation.com has the same feeling. In a long, thoughtful post from last year, but still relevant now, she outlines her concerns. Here is the one that resonated most with me:

Worth a read. Because, on some level, this question brings to the forefront two key components of librarianship: instruction and collection development. Twenty years ago, the Khan Academy videos might have been a library purchase, vetted by local collection development policy. Huh.

Make Friends with Your Math Teachers with Digital Manipulatives

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Have you seen the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives? It has gobs of online games and practice activities to help K-12 kids master various mathematical concepts.

Our district upgrade computers and transitioned from Mac to PC. We have not been able to upgrade all of our teachers’ beloved CDs, so I can’t wait to send them to this alternative!