How many of you have nagging questions about math? “What is an imaginary number?” “When do we use the quadratic formula?” “Why can’t we divide by 0?” “Why do we need math at all?” Perhaps you are a student with these questions but never really have the opportunity to ask it in class. Perhaps you are a teacher who would like to discuss these questions in class but never have time to do so in your limited lesson time. My project Ask Math Questions attempts to probe some of these nagging math questions through online YouTube videos.
Inspired by free online YouTube learning videos such as Khan Academy and MIT OpenCourseWare, Ask Math Questions provides free math learning videos that can complement student’s learning in the classroom. Rather than targeting the lectures on math topics, I tried to target each lecture to answer a certain math question so that the videos don’t just replicate classroom lectures but provide more clarification and depth to some of the questions students might have. While the primary target for Ask Math Questions is secondary math students, it can also be used by secondary math teachers as a complement resource.
Over the course, and through the development of my project, I learned to hone my purpose and target of my project. While initially I wanted to provide a platform to target all math learners (primary, secondary, and even post-secondary), I realize that this might distract me from providing a truly effective learning experience for any particular group. Also, while initially I planned to provide online lectures (very similar to Khan Academy), I learned that the “why” and “so what” questions are what really intrigues the students. I decided to target my project more towards answering these “why” and “so what” questions to address the audience interest, and act as a complement, rather than a replacement, for online lectures and physical teachers.
