A California man who set out to help his cousin master seventh-grade math in 2004 has created an online resource that is educating people around the world.
The site might also help local groups get students excited about the sometime-intimidating subjects of science, technology, engineering and math, STEM.
Salman Khan’s Khan Academy — www.khanacademy.com — offers some 2,400 free YouTube videos covering everything from algebra to chemistry to SAT preparation.
Narrating as “the voice in your head,” as he puts it, Khan uses Yahoo Messinger’s Doodle feature to illustrate his points.
His videos give basic tutorials and offer interactive practice exercises so students can put their newly acquired knowledge to work. There’s also an assessment tool.
Dr. Carol Spalding, president of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, shared a PBS report about the site last week at a STEM initiative meeting.
The video can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kly25zVbco The number of lessons on Khan’s site has doubled since the report was done in 2010.
“I wish this guy was around when I was taking algebra,” Spalding said.