Khan Academy is a site that has thousands of topics to choose and learn from. It is used as a tool to help educate students and to help them improve their knowledge without the help of a physical instructor. The site has videos, written works, and quizzes to help students gain a better understanding of subjects such as reading, history, mathematics, or science.
- The first lesson that I looked at on the site was one for the history of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. I have a fascination with learning about those topics so I figured that was a good place to start. For those lessons they have it broken down by time period. Ancient Mesopotamia came first, so there is a little lesson on that to begin with. They have a ten minute video clip with subtitles that gives a brief overview for visual and auditory learners. Then the site also has a written description of the topics highlighted in the video. This could also be used by visual learners, the ones that enjoy reading…or it could be used by the students that don’t have access to headphones in a quiet library. Following the main portion of information they have a couple short quizzes. Students can take these to see how familiar they are with the topic, and what they might need to improve on. There was a similar layout of information to the Ancient Egypt topic as well. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings
- The second lesson I investigated was one for Algebra. I am taking an algebra course this semester and it is not my strongest suit. They also have a similar structured lesson as to that of the one for Ancient Mesopotamia. They have an eleven minute video on an introduction to the topic. The topic I chose to look at was writing equations in slope-intercept form. We have been working on that in my current class and thought it would be of valuable use. After the video they again have a page you can open that explains the topic again in written words on the page. This time, the page was interactive. Math is a more hands on thing that you have to practice to get better at. So within the wordy explanation, they threw in a couple problems for the student to try on their own. And last but not least, they also have a small four question quiz that allows the student to understand what they still have to practice. https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra-basics/alg-basics-graphing-lines-and-slope
The final lesson I looked at was one for Chemistry. I am also taking that class this semester and it is also not my best subject. Recently we started learning about the basics of an atom. So I clicked on that topic to see if there was something that my professor might have missed, or if Khan Academy could explain it in a different way. The eight minute video with subtitles and pictures did a good job at explaining most of what I had learned in my previous lecture. It was a good reinforcement to enhance what I already knew. Similar to the prior lessons I have mentioned, there is a written portion that you can open up for more information. This one gave you basic skills for math,science, and biology. There were links that you could click on to take you to other parts of Khan Academy to help you out with those basic skills relating to the topic. And the introduction to atoms section had a seven question quiz that students could test themselves with to see how much they have learned from the information provided to them. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/atomic-structure-and-properties
Technology In Teaching 