Wednesday
Apr272011
Prime Factorization
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 7:49AM The module "Prime Factorization": Students are using the answer choices to check whether the answer choice multiplies out to the # being factorized. There is only one answer choice that correctly multiplies out to the # being factorized. This does not give students practice in prime factorization, just multiplication.
Recommended fix:
A) Add two or more answer choices that all multiply out to the # being factorized.
B) Instead of multiple choice, have students input the prime factorization itself.
C) Learn how to create modules myself so I can help with this as well!
Reader Comments (9)
Great find! I am going to turn this into an official bug in our issue tracker here: http://code.google.com/p/khanacademy/issues/list
Thanks! I'll be sure to keep more of these 'bugs' in mind.
Thanks -- I went with your 2nd recommended fix! Let me know what you and your students think. :)
So quick Marcia! It was funny to see the change in class. Students who thought they understood prime factorization were surprised to discover they couldn't help teach their friends during class and had to review the module themselves. During recess I taught prime factorization to those students who "thought" they knew how to do it. The small army then taught their friends the real way to do it.
I share all the comments you and the rest of the dev team make with my students by the way. They love hearing from you all, it makes them feel like they're a part of something big (which they are).
About the Google Apps accounts -- are you using "Google Apps for Education" or just normal "Google Apps" (I know, I know...confusing).
According to that blog post, the user limits for "Google Apps for Education" (which you're certainly eligible for) remain unchanged. We've been recommending "Google Apps for Education" for other classrooms, so that is probably the best solution. I'm not sure how possible it is to transition your existing Google Apps account into a "...for Education" version.
Ben,
I'm using normal "Google Apps". I do not have access to change DNS records for my charter's domain, and can't get a response from the IT admin to sign up for "Google Apps for Education". I've spoken to many other TFA teachers interested in starting KA in their classrooms and this seems to be the norm--not having administrative privileges and unreliable access to IT admins.
The benefit with "Google Apps" is that teachers can bootstrap and troubleshoot the whole implementation. I cannot speak on behalf of all teachers, but this is highly preferred amongst my colleagues interested in KA. (As most of us have had a bad experience with someone outside the classroom handling what goes on inside the classroom).
In my experience, being able to change student account passwords, add and remove accounts, change account privileges etc. has been indispensable for maintaining a smooth, effective, and constantly evolving implementation. I don't mean to say this is the only way, but so far, it's the most efficient way.
Understood, Harsh. Thanks for the heads-up on the new account limit. We'll be thinking about this...
Funny how the stars align somehow. I was going through the Greatest Common Factor stuff on Khan Academy and for the first time saw that Sal's way was not necessarily best practice. JMTPatrick (along with many others) does a great job on this. Glad to see you are still posting.
Mark,
Yeah I've noticed that on a few of the videos and exercises. But it wouldn't be fair to expect utter perfection from KA at this point anyway. I'm glad their team is constantly improving the product.
I didn't know PatrickJMT existed! Thanks for letting me know. Now my students will have yet another resource to learn math from.