Tuesday, December 11, 2012

SEE HOW BLENDED LEARNING MOTIVATES HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ALGEBRA CLASS

Khan Academy is making inroads in slowly reversing the failure rate of ELLs in algebra.  Since computers have infinite patience, ELLs may revisit a problem they are struggling with multiple times until they finally understand it.  Further, students may progress at a rate that works for them.  Trying to keep up in the traditional high school setting often led to tuning out which led to giving up.

Well, with the flipped classroom using KA, students see a video on the math problem the teacher has designated for the class to solve.  With the task, students have several options to tackle the problem:  watch a video from the KA, check out the hint KA supplies in helping a student solve a problem, ask a peer for assistance, and last--raise one's hand for assistance.

How can the teacher use KA to fully support a student's efforts at learning?  There is the teacher mode which lets the teacher access student progress reports, perform quick checks which allow them to hone in on specific weaknesses and all the steps the students tried on his own in attempting to find the answer on his/her own.  This type of feedback makes the teacher's feedback even more productive since the teacher knows exactly where to step in to support the student in arriving at the solution.

Scores of students in this high school have gone up.  Students have a greater well-founded confidence in tackling algebra.  In fact, at this site, the pass rate went up 40%!

BLENDED LEARNING ENERGIZES HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Try the site out.  It works for all levels of math though the above video was set in high school.

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

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