Online Lessons in Math from Pre-Algebra to Calculus

Parents and teens: feeling nervous about starting a new math course in September?  Take charge by going online learning some key new concepts on the agenda this fall.

When you are ready to “hit the books” and preview the new course, set your goals and use an actual planner.  Have a friend do this at his/her house too so you can support each other.  Here are some more tips for the self-directed learner:

a)  Once there is a plan to spend a few hours a week working on math, keep the study time strict and the tone serious.  If listening to instrumental music, (e.g., classical, jazz or electronic) has been helpful while studying during the school year, by all means, put on the headphones.

b) Plan for at least a 60 minute session.  It may be nearly impossible to go on the internet and not “quickly check” some favorite sites.  If you do that, set a timer to 5 minutes and stick to it, bookmarking sites you want to finish later.  Experiment with studying in the morning, afternoon and evening to find out when your brain is most focused.   (Early afternoon is usually a bad idea- your body is at a low point in energy.)  Exercise for ten-twenty minutes first; it gets your brain running on full blast.

c)  Parents, since this is self-directed learning, let your teenager set the goals.  Questions s/he should answer: How many topics will be covered?  Is this passive video-watching or am I going to do practice problems?  How many per topic?

d)  After a study session, family members or friends can help by asking what topics were covered.  Get more out of the conversation by discussing whether any of it was review from last year and what concepts will probably be the hardest to learn.

e) Rewards, rewards, rewards... You know you have some ideas about those...

Ready to begin?  Here are two noteworthy sites:

1) http://library.thinkquest.org/20991/alg2/index.html

Getting past the annoying title to this page, "Math for Morons Like Us", I would recommend a visit to this site.  It turns out that it was certainly not created by morons; I found their Algebra, Geometry and Algebra II key concepts to be taught clearly and concisely.  But this is not meant for the struggling math student- it would need more of a variety of presentation.  Nor is it for those who are looking for more advanced coursework.  But for those who have had success learning “by the book” so far, this website should be bookmarked.  The quizzes at the end of each chapter are helpful as well.

Example page (see right triangle above):

The trig. ratios, sine, cosine, and tangent are based on properties of right triangles.  The function values depend on the measure of the angle.  The functions are outlined below.

sine x = (side opposite x)/hypotenuse

cosine x = (side adjacent x)/hypotenuse

tangent x = (side opposite x)/(side adjacent x)

And now, the rock star of online learning… (drumroll)……  The Khan Academy

2)http://www.khanacademy.org/

It’s a fair guess that anyone who has already explored the web searching for math help has heard of this site.  It’s simply the most comprehensive online school of mathematics there is, as far as I know, and remarkably, free.  After a few years of development, the creators have added SAT math, the natural sciences, and some Social Studies as well.  Pretty impressive, right?  And I haven’t even mentioned the best part: these are video presentations by articulate instructors at the chalkboard who are using helpful visual tools such as underlining, colored chalk, and even subtitles.

Want to give it a try?  A topic that frequently challenges students to the point of exasperation is “word problems”.  Here’s link to that lesson at the Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/solving-linear-equations/v/algebraic-word-problem.

Pushing for some online math time this summer is worth the effort. With some weekly planning, your teenager will be introduced to the key new concepts for the first month of school, at the very least, and potentially for the whole year.  It would be a gain against the “summer slump” and a life raft in the deluge of coursework starting in September.