HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

It's another argument for constructivism, pointing out that Khan Academy is non-constructivist education on steroids.

As much as I agree with this argument, it underplays the fact that constructivism is a paradigm shift that will require gobs cultural readiness and energy that we don't seem to have. It's like, Why don't we live in domes? Well, because people expect houses to be rectangular, zoning laws assume they'll be made of sticks, and we don't have enough energy to blow past these things. Or, Why do we still use imperative programming languages instead of functional languages?

Once it was different: the constructivist program by Seymour Papert to put Logo (which, as it happens, is a functional language!) in schools. It was a fad in the early '80s and failed monumentally. So monumentally that today the power of computing is equated with making textbooks interactive http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/ and backpacks lighter. Both Jobs and Gates criticized various 'computer in the classroom' initiatives in the '90s for this very reason, but they didn't mention (or didn't know about) Logo.

One constructivist aspect of Khan's program not mentioned in the article is the "flipped" classroom -- watching lectures at home and doing homework in class. This is a far superior use of classroom time that allows questions to come in the context of work, work to be a social activity, etc. And last I heard, K.A. were having real trouble selling the idea. It's too revolutionary for many schools.

What's often not understood is that schools are incredibly diverse institutions. The parents, the students, the teachers, the unions, the administration, the local, State, and federal governments... all sit in class each day. There is no way to improve classrooms by decree, or even by offering powerful alternatives like Khan Academy or Logo. The entire society must come along.

The article criticizes Khan Academy for not employing teachers. But failed to mention another constructivist act par excellence: they just hired Vi Hart! http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=e1a6Bxc0OYQ

⬐ hammerbrostime

Awesome, what a great combo. For those unfamiliar with Vi's work, she makes very entertaining and accessible video series called "Doodling in Math Class". Here's one of my favorites, called "Infinity Elephants" http://bit.ly/zEiugp

⬐ Nogwater

Here's one of my favorites:

Möbius Story: Wind and Mr. Ug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mdEsouIXGM

⬐ d0mine

no need to use bit.ly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK5Z709J2eo

⬐ neolefty

Woo, I love it. I wondered if something was up ever since they collaborated on a video about scale: http://www.khanacademy.org/video/vi-and-sal-explore-how-we-t...

In hindsight, it looks suspiciously like the practical problem-solving part of an interview.

Vi seems like a well-rounded addition to Khan Academy: She makes videos and also does great hands-on educational inspiration with her artist-in-residence stints and all (update: http://vihart.com/blog/tags/Harvard.html).

Sal Khan wants to run a real school, and Vi will be a world-class camp counselor.

⬐ pilot_pirx

Good thing to do. Khan does great work, but to be true, he is quite boring sometimes. Getting somebody else in with better grasp of how to make a video educational and entertaining at the same time would be a great idea.

⬐ TamDenholm

A longer explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWuAYoHysIo

⬐ TamDenholm

Well i've never heard of Vi Hart but she seems to do a similar sort of thing to Sal making educational videos, so it seems like a natural partnership. The Khan Academy seems to be going from strength to strength. :)

⬐ VMG

She joins the dark side of gasp verbal education?

⬐ ranza

Yay! I love Vi. She got me into math again

⬐ droithomme

Vi Hart is an absolutely awesome artist with incredibly enthusiastic and inspiring pedagogical math videos. This would seem a match made in heaven.

Also be sure to check out her hobby of building musical instruments out of paper and then playing them while they are on fire.