What follows is an open letter to those friends of mine -- and superstar math educators around the country -- who take these positions. I don't think they're wrong. But they are short-sighted. Read on to find out why.
Friends--
At the risk of stating the obvious, you aren't run-of-the-mill math teachers. Of course you can envision--indeed, give daily--lessons that are more in-depth, challenging, authentic, inquiry-based, etc., than Khan Academy. Indeed, I would be shocked if you couldn't.
But that's not the question. Khan Academy wasn't created for yourstudents. It was created for kids whose teachers, in many cases, don't even know the content, much less how to present it clearly or explain it well. Have you been to the elementary schools in my district? Because (as many of you know) something like half the freshmen who come to my school can't use a protractor to measure an obtuse angle --- they tell me it's 61 degrees or something cockamamie like that --- and they TOOK A TEST to get into my school (indeed, the cutoff score for my school is over 800 out of 900 possible points; we rejected more than 2000 kids out of the 2400 who applied). Those kids will get more effective instruction from Khan Academy than they can get in a regular classroom, because right now they aren't getting effective instruction in their regular classrooms, period. (I'm not blaming anyone in particular here, simply making the tautological claim that instruction that doesn't result in kids being able to do the things they are being instructed in how to do is, by definition, not effective.)
It works for other kids too: my daughter was far ahead of her class last year, and for the first half of the year did worksheets in the back of the room. For the second half of the year, she and two friends got to go on Khan Academy and pick their own lesson every day, and she grew more (as measured by NWEA/MAP scores) in that semester than in the previous 1.5 years combined. And she got about a quarter of the way through a standard Algebra I course.
Finally, I'd say this--about flipped classroom stuff generally and KA in particular. Right now, I'm cooking up a pot of Cincinnati Chili (mmm...can you smell it?). It's delicious, nutritious (yay low-fat turkey!), and my kids love it. But there's a diner down the street from my house, and any day I want, I can go there and get a reasonably tasty, reasonably healthy meal at a reasonably low price. And so every week or two--when I'm too tired, or we have nothing in the refrigerator--we go there for dinner. It's not Tru, or Topolobampo, or any of the other great restaurants Chicago is known for--but it's a reasonable way to get fed once in a while. I think KA and other online videos are like that: not as good as the best (although maybe if you watch the first lecture of the Udacity physics series, on Eratosthenes' measure of the circumference of the earth, you'd be surprised). But KA delivers reasonably clear, correct instruction to people who might not otherwise have access to it. Friends who have expressed skepticism about the "All Khan, All the Time" approach: I agree wholeheartedly. Let's give our kids a balanced diet of different kinds of instruction and different ways of thinking about problems. But I don't think that's a reason to trash on Khan altogether.
At the risk of stating the obvious, you aren't run-of-the-mill math teachers. Of course you can envision--indeed, give daily--lessons that are more in-depth, challenging, authentic, inquiry-based, etc., than Khan Academy. Indeed, I would be shocked if you couldn't.
But that's not the question. Khan Academy wasn't created for yourstudents. It was created for kids whose teachers, in many cases, don't even know the content, much less how to present it clearly or explain it well. Have you been to the elementary schools in my district? Because (as many of you know) something like half the freshmen who come to my school can't use a protractor to measure an obtuse angle --- they tell me it's 61 degrees or something cockamamie like that --- and they TOOK A TEST to get into my school (indeed, the cutoff score for my school is over 800 out of 900 possible points; we rejected more than 2000 kids out of the 2400 who applied). Those kids will get more effective instruction from Khan Academy than they can get in a regular classroom, because right now they aren't getting effective instruction in their regular classrooms, period. (I'm not blaming anyone in particular here, simply making the tautological claim that instruction that doesn't result in kids being able to do the things they are being instructed in how to do is, by definition, not effective.)
It works for other kids too: my daughter was far ahead of her class last year, and for the first half of the year did worksheets in the back of the room. For the second half of the year, she and two friends got to go on Khan Academy and pick their own lesson every day, and she grew more (as measured by NWEA/MAP scores) in that semester than in the previous 1.5 years combined. And she got about a quarter of the way through a standard Algebra I course.
Finally, I'd say this--about flipped classroom stuff generally and KA in particular. Right now, I'm cooking up a pot of Cincinnati Chili (mmm...can you smell it?). It's delicious, nutritious (yay low-fat turkey!), and my kids love it. But there's a diner down the street from my house, and any day I want, I can go there and get a reasonably tasty, reasonably healthy meal at a reasonably low price. And so every week or two--when I'm too tired, or we have nothing in the refrigerator--we go there for dinner. It's not Tru, or Topolobampo, or any of the other great restaurants Chicago is known for--but it's a reasonable way to get fed once in a while. I think KA and other online videos are like that: not as good as the best (although maybe if you watch the first lecture of the Udacity physics series, on Eratosthenes' measure of the circumference of the earth, you'd be surprised). But KA delivers reasonably clear, correct instruction to people who might not otherwise have access to it. Friends who have expressed skepticism about the "All Khan, All the Time" approach: I agree wholeheartedly. Let's give our kids a balanced diet of different kinds of instruction and different ways of thinking about problems. But I don't think that's a reason to trash on Khan altogether.
I think what bugs me the most about Khan is the way that it tends to reinforce the perception of math as a collection of procedures that one memorizes and practices in order to get answers to certain reasonably well-defined collections of exercises.
ReplyDeleteIt's that presupposition, underlying the whole enterprise, that gets to me, and I don't really know what to do to respond to it properly.
+1 to Josh. But LOTS of math teachers teach math like it's "a collection of procedures that one memorizes and practices." Paul's right that for plenty of students in the US and around the world Khan is as good or better than their status quo. In those instances, I recommend it. But Khan positions his academy as the mountaintop of math education. To hear him tell it in his books and interviews, we suffered through a Prussian model only to emerge now in this technological utopia.
ReplyDeleteWe can't lose sight of the high bar set by the best math educators, the educators who pull off pedagogical feats daily that can't (yet) be replicated on a computer. So your open letter is well taken, Paul, but we should continue to criticize the deficits of Khan Academy and continue to promote the best we see in math education. That project shouldn't stop.
Took the words right out of my mouth! This reminds me of the saying (not mine), "Any teacher who can be replaced by a computer deserves to be replaced by a computer."
DeleteI'm a math teacher in rural Michigan. Our small school is striving to thrive in this new technological education system. We're even giving every student an ipad next year.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with this article that Khan could help me since my students come to me with less than proficient skills in the high school. He could help to catch them up.
But our school has piloted the Smarter Balanced Test this week. There is nothing that can prepare them for this test in rote mathematical learning. I need to be taken to the stocks for all the times in the past I've told my students "just plug and chug." I need to tarred and feathered for all the times I've said, "It's just a formula...memorize it. I don't understand why you don't get it." The SBT has its issues, but it also asks some good questions and has challenged me as a teacher to explain a concept more thoroughly.
With all this said, I started teaching math 10 years ago, knowing that I enjoyed math and enjoyed working with teens. But I was teaching Saxon...which always left my students with high test scores, but little understanding (maybe the Khan Academy of textbooks at the time?). Now, I enjoy math even more as I get to explore it even more. I get to be creative in my classroom. Every year, I'm tweaking and, I hope, getting better.
Can Khan compete? Don't think so. But can Khan help students catch up? I sure hope so.
And thank you for helping me to think about how I can use Khan as a tool.
I am a former math professor who now works in finance. I continue to be interested in math education and also home school my kids. We follow the Art of Problem Solving books for most of our kids math curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI love Khan Academy. I do not use the video lectures all that often with the kids, but we frequently use the practice problems. Most recently we were studying ratios in the AoPS Algebra book and I could see that my older son was a little rusty with fractions and had him spend a little time (probably 30 min over two days) playing around in the various practice problems in Khan's fraction section. For us, this free resource with practice problems in hundreds of different areas is, and will continue to be, incredibly valuable.
Thanks, everyone, for such thoughtful comments. @Josh and Dan, I agree: the very existence of Khan Academy presupposes and supports a "math = collection of skills" mindset that we work very hard to counter, and I get worried when I hear people talk about not needing math teachers because of Khan. But I think Khan can maybe help teachers think about what *else* they would like to teach besides the basic skills.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason my reply didn't work this morning. Luckily I copied it. Let's hope it will work now:\
ReplyDeleteLots of good points from the article. What troubles me the most about the Khan phenomenon is the societal perception of mathematics it perpetuates. I agree with the point made about there still being plenty of other math educators who emphasize math as only a collection of procedural facts. The difference for Khan is that it creates an overlaying cover of societal misunderstanding. I have begun to hear some parents using Khan as an example for how math should be taught. I have seen fellow new math educators cling onto the procedural emphasis of Khan (because some teachers, lets face it, are learning from Khan).
Khan is not perfect, and lots of us recognize this. But open criticism is vital for the growth of anything - especially education. Dan mentioned that Khan positions his academy on the mountaintop. This is exactly the perception that lots of people hold. And this is precisely why our objections to their misplaced belief must be heard!
I haven't really joined this Khan Roasting. I've brought up a few points about the approach on my blog, and what I would do to improve my videos and my version of a flipped classroom. I don't claim to have seen all of the videos from Khan, so I cannot say with certainty that conceptual emphasis does not exist, so you may be right. But as I mentioned before - it isn't Khan that I have a problem with, it is more this falsely perpetuated image of mathematics that troubles me.
That's because Khan doesn't teach "math" per se; he teaches arithmetic. Mathematics is when you're doing something really cool and creative, and what Khan purports to teach is neither.
ReplyDelete