Online tutorials offer students flexibility, teachers community
Students only get a finite number of hours in the classroom each year, so it’s important to make the most of them.
That’s why Adrian Acosta, a science teacher at the Young Men’s College Preparatory Academy, has been working with some of his colleagues at both the YMCPA and other campuses to harness the power of the internet by offering online tutorials.
“We all know that different teachers have different ways of explaining material,” said Acosta, “and students have different ways of learning. By having teachers do online tutorials, students are able to access different teachers explaining the same concept in different ways. That lets students find the best way to help them understand.”
An example of a typical lesson can be seen in this related 30-minute video, which explores the Hardy-Weinberg principle, a mathematical way of determining the frequency at which certain alleles occur in a population.
“This concept is actually an Advanced Placement biology objective, and most teachers don’t get to cover it due to the time constraints,” noted Acosta. “But this year, I was able to cover it in more detail due to the online tutorials and I had some interesting results. First, the students got a better comprehension of genetics. Second, the basis of the Hardy-Weinberg equation is binomial expansion, which is used in solving quadratic equations. So by having the online tutorials, not only was I able to cover my own objectives in deeper detail, but it also became a cross-curricular lesson.”
Each session is recorded so that students who can’t attend may watch it after-hours. “The ultimate goal is to make these recordings available to students 24/7 on the hub,” said Acosta.
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