2014 Champion Spotlight: Fingal Community College
Teachers, students and administrators accepting the first place prize for total skills mastered in the secondary division at the 2014 MATHletes National Championship
Today’s guest post comes from Sharon McGrath principal at Fingal Community College in Swords, Co. Dublin, who talks about the impact of that MATHletes & Khan Academy have had on the school.
MATHletes at Fingal CC
Fingal Community College are the 2014 MATHletes Challenge National Champions. The Challenge transformed the teaching and learning of mathematics in our school and made maths ‘cool’, fun and engaging.That’s no mean feat!
This innovative way to engage students in learning maths was introduced to Fingal Community College initially on a small scale by an single teacher in to her 2nd year maths class. The eagerness and enthusiasm of these 2nd year students was infectious and very quickly students in other classes and other year groups wanted to participate!
The maths teachers in Fingal CC quickly saw the potential of the MATHletes Challenge and grabbed the opportunity to promote the initiative among all Junior Cycle classes.The energy and enthusiasm of the teachers was the single most important factor in the success of the initiative. This zeal transferred to parents and students, and the entire project became was a remarkable example of all stakeholders working closely together towards a common goal.
The teaching and learning of maths in Fingal CC has been monumentally transformed by our involvement in the MATHletes Challenge. Self assessment and independent learning are key skills that Khan Academy fosters, and the fun and engaging nature of the competition made it a uniquely rewarding experience for all involved.
Benefits for StudentsIn Khan Academy students can practise maths at their own pace using the adaptive assessment environment. Students can make use of the extensive library of content, including interactive challenges, assessments, and videos from any computer with access to …Read More
2014 Champion Spotlight: Coláiste Bhaile Chláir
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, MATHletes Challenge 2014 points per eligible student category winners in the Secondary Division from Co. Galway accepting their championship cup at the National finals in May.
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir was a new school for the 2013-14 year, with only 1st year students. All 160 CBC students participated in the Challenge – making it one of the few schools to have 100% participation, and helping catapult them up the leaderboards in the points per eligible student competition. CBC volunteered to host the MATHletes Connaught finals, and 11 of their student progressed to the National Championship in Dublin. Jake Larkin came in 3rd in Ireland for 1st years.
CBC teacher Gareth Callan and 2nd year student Jake Larkin talk about using Khan Academy at CBC and competing in the MATHletes Challenge.
listen to ‘Champion spotlight: Coláiste Bhaile Chláir’ on audioBoom(function() { var po = document.createElement(“script”); po.type = “text/javascript”; po.async = true; po.src = “https://d15mj6e6qmt1na.cloudfront.net/cdn/embed.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();A teacher perspective: Gareth Callan
What was one of your most memorable moments of the MATHletes Challenge?
‘We were proud to host the Connaught finals (at CBC). Students and parents were willing to give up their Saturday morning and travel great distances in some cases to compete.’How do you use Khan Academy in your class?
‘Khan Academy provided instant feedback to both me as a teacher and to my students’. It was great for students who wanted an extra bit of practice at a topic and students who wanted to fine-tune their skills. It allowed students to move at their own pace, and access it from anywhere as long as they had a device.’What advice do you have to teachers who are new to Khan Academy?
‘Khan Academy & MATHletes don’t have to be a stand alone lesson – you can give it so students who are struggling, …Read More
‘We’re participants in their learning’: A parent’s perspective on Khan Academy
Today’s post comes from MATHletes Challenge mother Geraldine Exton, whose two sones Daragh and Odhran were Limerick County Champions for 2nd year and 6th class, respectively. Both boys were also runners up for the Munster Championship and National Finalists. Geraldine talks a bit about the family’s experience with Khan Academy
We discovered Khan Academy back in 2011. We’d been away for a year and the children had had some experience of other online Maths programmes designed to fill gaps in their knowledge; we heard that this new site was freely available and we decided to investigate. We signed up, firstly our two boys, and eventually our younger daughter as well.
Multilingual Education & Khan Academy
Studies into multilingual education suggest that teaching students a subject in their more comfortable language first, then reinforcing that learning later, in a subsequent language, is a powerful way to ensure that both the concepts and the language are learnt. In the process of overseeing our children’s transition from English- to Irish-language instruction, Khan Academy was a natural choice for us to support their learning.
In the process of overseeing our children’s transition from English- to Irish-language instruction, Khan Academy was a natural choice for us to support their learning.
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MATHletes Challenge: Recognition & Celebration
And then came the Mathletes Challenge. An added game layer, introducing competition and rewarding achievements by publishing the best performing students’ names on leaderboards, injected a frisson of excitement into the daily Maths routines. Suddenly there was a public outlet to recognise all the hard work that …Read More
Khan Academy tips for primary parents
Today’s blogpost comes from the magnificent teachers at St. Peters Primary School in Bray – the Co. Wicklow and Leinster Primary School Champions for MATHletes Challenge 2014. Back in September they wrote a blog introducing St. Peters parents to Khan Academy, and it was too good not to share! Check out the original post and other MATHletes stories on their award-winning blog at www.stpetersbrayblog.com/. Originally published 30/9/2014
Wednesday for Parents: Khan Academy
Welcome to this week’s ‘Wednesday for Parents’! As you may know, one of our success stories last week was our involvement in Mathletes, well documented here. Mathletes is a free tournament that aims to change the teaching and learning of Maths in Ireland. It’s an online and in-person competition that uses Khan Academy as a tool to improve the student’s maths skills and knowledge. Today’s ‘Wednesday for Parents’ is all about how you can use Khan Academy as a parent to improve your child’s Maths skills.
What is Khan Academy?
So, what is Khan Academy? Khan Academy is a non-profit organisation that aims to provide a world-class education to anyone, anywhere for free. It uses a combination of videos, practice problems and lessons to help students to develop their own learning.
How do I sign up my child?
You have the option to open a parent account and sign your child up, using your parent account, or, if your child already has an account, you can link the two accounts to monitor your child. When you sign up (for free), you’re instantly directed to seven tips about using Khan Academy as a family, such as how to monitor their progress, reward their successes and set goals and milestones. There’s also excellent articles on how to support your child’s learning when you don’t know the content and how to motivate different types of learners.
What can students …Read More