Kahn Academy

I have to take my hat off to Sal Kahn for a truly immense resource. What he has achieved with the Kahn Academy is nothing short of incredible.

He’s single handedly generated 1000+  instructional videos covering subjects including:

• Economics
• Finance
• Chemistry
• Arithmetic
• Pre-algebra
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Biology
• Trigonometry
• Precalculus
• Statistics
• Probability
• Calculus
• Differential Equations
• History
• Linear Algebra
• Physics

What a wealth of information. This has to be place in the category alongside Academic Earth and Udemy.

LabTV – Science and Engineering Videos

LabTV online by the National Defense Education Program (NDEP) has some interesting videos about science and engineering for older kids. There are over 50 videos from two seasons of webisodes, helping to capture kids’ imaginations and instill an interest in engineering.

Gamequarium

The Gamequarium is a site that “swims with learning fun”. Drill down the categories to find LOTS of resources for children to use for learning, either independently or supported. I can see myself returning to this site again and again.

Maths Dictionary

Jenny Eather has created a rather useful site for kids to learn and understand about different basic terms in maths. It’s called A Maths Dictionary for Kids.

Such a colourful, visually engaging site, with a clickable alphabet on the left leading to the different maths terms beginning with that letter. Upon choosing a term from the dictionary you’ll see a definition and some sums to do allowing you to test and develop your understanding.

MathTV

The site MathTV.com is brilliant on a number of levels. Firstly, if you’re a student and you want some area of maths explained via a simple, understandable video instruction then look no further. Areas covered are broken down into the topics Calculus, Trig, Algebra and Basic Maths, and then broken down further into multiple sub-topics. With many of the problems there are videos available by different presenters, come in languages other than English, including Spanish. To access these videos you don’t even need to register and log in. What could be simpler?

Additional to all that, if you are a maths tutor and you are wanting to set up a programme of maths to help with your students’ studies, you can create what is called a ‘Playlist’. You do need to register to access this facility, but the registration and login processes are simple and quick; as is the setting up of a playlist. Once your playlist is created, you are provided with a URL to access it, which you can pass on to your students.

Daniel Kopsas has created a screencast tutorial explaining how to set up a MathTV playlist.

Numbernuts – maths site

Rader’s Numbernut has such a visual draw to it that it makes the learning of maths fun and appealing. Just look at how striking it is.

Now for me you can’t beat simple and these icons are so nice, and they indicate exactly what area of maths they link to. And they link to some great activities that quickly engage children, along with explanations of what the maths terms mean. The activities are set up in such a simple format; but that’s not to say the maths is simple. I’d suggest giving this one a try.

Math Apprentice – real world maths examples to try

Math Apprentice is an interesting concept, behind which lies the an attempt to answer the question often asked in school, “Why do I need to learn this maths thing? I’ll never need to use it in the real world“.

You can find out more about the project by clicking ‘About the Project’ link.

The front end of this site I don’t find the most intuitive. There’s an image with 17 or so professions on. Initially one might presume that you could click on any of these to take you onto the next part of the site, possibly looking into the use of maths in that profession.

However, you need to scroll down and then click on the Explore the Math link.

You need to choose a character to use on your trip around the professions, skateboarding passed the buildings using the left and right arrow keys. Clicking on a building will take you in and you’ll be provided with a brief introduction, and then a task to solve using mathematics.

One drawback is the use of feet in distance measurements, rather than the SI units of metres.

Dr Mike’s Math Games

Dr Mike’s site has lots and lots of printable mathematics sheets for a range of ages. The philosophy is get the kids playing with maths and they’ll enjoy maths.

Squigly educational games

The Squigly site has a few very nice games, split into maths, spelling/typing/reading, geography, memory and matching and making connections. Some time dependent games seem a little quick at first, but maybe with practise the kids will get quicker and more accurate.

Maths videos via Tutor-USA

Tutor-USA is split into four sections (three of them currently active). It focuses on Maths. The Worksheets section has a collection of worksheets for access, provided you login. With the Math Tutoring section you can get access to maths tutors online. However, the section that particularly interested me was the Video Lessons, has embedded videos split down into separate sections, including Basic Math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Prob & Stats, and Calculus.

There are also some good online maths games available:

Then there are lesson plans available. A set of maths tools and calculators, including quadratic equation solver, fraction calculator, and the like.