Math Tutorials: For Students, by Students

  

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Sixth grade math students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, California aren’t just learning math—they’re teaching it too. After teacher Eric Marcos created screencasting videos on his tablet PC for a student in need of extra help, his students wanted to make their own tutorial videos. Marcos compiled his class’s work onto MathTrain.TV, which is available to students worldwide. The class also has a podcast and an app on iTunes for the iPhone and iPad.

While online video tutorials are becoming widespread as technology receives increasing emphasis in education, not many are created for students, by students. The sixth graders at Lincoln Middle School enjoy staying after school to work on their videos, and the project has them spending lots of time thinking about math. Marcos points out that his students must understand concepts deeply in order to create meaningful instructional videos. And the students love doing math in a creative environment and helping out other students. As Marcos says, “they’re taking an active role in their own learning.”

MathTrain.TV is gaining a global following. Marcos even presented it at this summer’s ISTE conference. Students can view videos made by the sixth graders at Lincoln Middle School as well as screencasts about how to create their own tutorials. To read more about MathTrain.TV, check out the MindShift blog. The web continues to be an evolving source of math resources and learning opportunities for students.

Watch the story on Eric Marcos and his students' videos here!