[tworats]

It is awesome that Khan Academy has attracted so much top talent. Has the potential to make a real difference in world education and thus in human potential. Goes to show how much effect a relatively small investment can make when joined with amazing, driven, talented people.

[te_platt]

I agree except for "Has the potential". It is making an improvement right now. It is hard to describe how it feels to watch my 9 year old pop off months worth of school tedium in one morning, moving up through long division into simple algebra equations. Or my 14 fill in gaps that had been confusing her for years. Comments like "oh, I get it now" or "that's not hard at all" are common.

[armandososa]

It's also incredible that it made me understand trigonometry at 30, after mexican education failed to got me interested in math.

[FrojoS]

Awesome to hear! Can you give us any information on how their grades have developed? Of course, kindling fun and excitement for education and science is already a great, if not the most important, achievement. But I'm curious about the effect, that was discussed here before [1]. Derek Muller claims [2], that these videos give a false illusion of understanding. If I get him right: If your kids don't feel a bit confused and overwhelmed afterwards, they might have reinforced their prejudice about how think are and work.

Anyway, its great to see good people choosing a career in education!

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2348476 [2] https://fnoschese.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/khan-academy-and-...

[jochu]

I don't know if I'm misinterpreting Derek Muller, but I didn't get the impression that people had to be confused/overwhelmed to learn. I think it's only necessary when there's incorrect prior knowledge.

If interested, here's my take/rant about it:

I believe that prior knowledge and misconceptions can change how people deal and interpret new information. This can help or it can hurt the learning process.

It can help because it often makes new knowledge more likely to "stick." For example, a soccer fan is more likely to remember soccer scores [1]. I know there's other research that indicate more prior knowledge leads to quicker learning, but I don't remember them off the top of my head.

It can hurt in much of the same ways Derek Muller describes. When hearing new information it can easily be misinterpreted to match current knowledge. For example, anecdotally, those only familiar with the words "negative" (bad) and "reinforcement" (adding/reaffirming) are more likely to misinterpret "negative reinforcement" to mean "punishing behavior by adding something bad" instead of "rewarding behavior by taking something bad away." I believe there were similar findings/studies within statistics. Another common one is F=mv as shown in Muller's videos. I'm sure there are plenty more examples.

I believe Derek Muller's problem with Khan's videos is that they might not challenge incorrect previous knowledge. I agree with Muller and personally feel that Khan Academy will likely encounter some of these same problems when students watch the videos.

But, I also believe that the other half of Khan Academy (exercises) provide feedback that videos alone otherwise do not have. I believe that the requirement for mastery through the exercises can and will challenge at least some of these misconceptions. Particularly if the questions are good questions.

I also believe that Khan Academy is going to find themselves in a position where they can potentially have a lot of interesting data. I'd love to be able to see whether they can use this data to find some of these common misconceptions and then improve videos and/or questions. In the very least, I believe that their exercises will serve as a good metric to see where misconceptions are being poorly addressed.

We also have to keep in mind that, at least in the pilot in Los Altos school district, these videos are not the only source where students are learning. They still have time with teachers where these misconceptions can be addressed. In addition to that, they'll have the opportunity to review the videos to contrast, reflect on what lead to the misunderstanding, and hopefully reaffirm the new knowledge.

tldr - I believe Khan Academy's exercises and class/teacher time might help deal with the issue of misconceptions.

</rant>

[1] Morris, 1981 - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1981....

[te_platt]

The videos are just one part of the academy. There is a tree you progress through by passing off problems. Ten correct in a row marks you as proficient and you go to the next level. Every so often there is a review section with random problems from any earlier level. The entire system of instruction, practice, and review gives more than an illusion of understanding.

My nine year old's grades have always been really good. The fun for him is just being able to go as fast as he wants. My 14 year old has moved from struggling for c's to breezing along with b's. She just really doesn't care about math but at least she doesn't hate it anymore.

[FrojoS]

Thanks! I wasn't aware of that system. Can't wait till my nephew can watch Khan Academy ..

[niels_olson]

how do you get them in front of it? I am reluctant to "make" my 9 yo or 6 yo do it, but it competes with flash games and whatever else they find online.

In a related question, do you use OpenDNS or any other access controls?

[te_platt]

With my nine year old I said he needed to pass off one level before he could play his regular video games. He just took it from there. There is a concept of points for doing certain things. I didn't think much of it but he keeps track and somehow he cares (something like karma here I suppose).

My 14 year old had a very different reaction. She just uses it to fill over gaps in what she is doing at school. I have a degree in math but no matter how gentle I try to be I think she feels embarrased to come to me for help. Maybe I get too excited and try to explain too much. Either way she is keeping up much better now.

My six year old watches for a few minutes and then breaks into song and dance. I'll just let him be for a while.

[zem]

present it as an alternative to her textbooks, during designated study time.