[ExI] education again

[William Flynn Wallace]

Ja, plenty of times on the statistics and probability course.  That one was
tougher than the calculus so far, not so much the math itself but the
reasoning behind it.  That one is tough for kids, perhaps easier for adults
and those of us who have played poker or pondered these concepts.  spike

I taught statistics and probability to undergraduates, and the latter is
much harder, even though it really comes down to counting.

I read one study where medical doctors were given the facts:  rate of
incidence in the population, size of false positive errors and so forth
about the likelihood of getting a disease. They all missed by miles.
Conditional probability is really tough.  Remember the three door problem,
like that TV show?  Ph. D. mathemeticians blew it.  Marilyn Vos Savant got
it.

Long ago I lost an exgirlfriend to suicide.  She tested positive for AIDS,
but it was the first test.  She very likely did not have it and was poorly
advised by physicians, which is one reason I am extremely skeptical of them
now (plus losing a father and a mother to their errors).

I could likely use a refresher course but will try things I have no
background for (no, too old for calculus and other math) or are not Khan's
strength, like history or something.  I wish Khan was active when I was.  I
have no use for math now.

bill w

On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 6:49 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> *From:* extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] *On
> Behalf Of *William Flynn Wallace
> *…*
>
>
>
> >… is there anything about Khan that suggests that it might be superior
> in a setting where peer mentoring is done?
>
>
>
> Hmmm, I don’t see where peer mentoring would enter into that kind of
> effort.  KA is really better set up for home study or after-school than
> in-school use.
>
>
>
> >…OK - ten minutes and most watchers have mastered that concept…
>
>
>
> Ten minutes of lecture, followed by practice on the concept for perhaps
> thrice that same time period.
>
>
>
> >…  Then turn on another one?
>
>
>
> Ja.  Self paced.
>
>
>
> >…How fast did your kid go through the videos?
>
>
>
> Well, I recorded everything, so I have a total of 4320 minutes of video,
> 15030 minutes of working on skills and 1460 minutes working on challenges
> (writing software.)  This was over a span of 1004 days, so an average of
> about 4 to 5 minutes of video per day, 15 minutes of skills, with
> intermittent projects.
>
>
>
> I would estimate about 8 minutes per video is more typical and a skill
> takes about 12-16 minutes or so to master a skill.  So a reasonable
> approximation is about 500 videos and for skills, I have the exact number
> available:  1107 skills mastered.  This was accomplished in less than 3
> years (1004 days calendar, 480 days with at least some KA action of any
> kind (he has other training material besides this (such as a robotics
> training course.)))
>
>
>
> This is an example of skills at the KA Calc1 level:
>
>
>
> Skill     Level  Questions
>
> Finding limits numerically
> Mastered
>
> One-sided limits from graphs                             Mastered
>
> Two-sided limits from graphs                             Mastered
>
> Two-sided limits using algebra                           Mastered
>
> Two-sided limits using advanced algebra        Mastered
>
> Continuity
> Mastered
>
> Limits at infinity where f(x) is unbounded       Mastered
>
> Limits at infinity where x is unbounded           Practiced
>
> Squeeze theorem
>
>
>
>
>
> >…  Did he ever replay one?
>
>
>
> Ja, plenty of times on the statistics and probability course.  That one
> was tougher than the calculus so far, not so much the math itself but the
> reasoning behind it.  That one is tough for kids, perhaps easier for adults
> and those of us who have played poker or pondered these concepts.
>
>
>
>
>
> >…Or this:  would 5 Khan videos equal one 50 minute regular class session?
>
>
>
> I am guessing a typical class session would give time for about two videos
> and about three skills if they hustle.  The videos and skills don’t
> necessarily correspond one to one, and you don’t need to view the videos to
> do the skills.  Plenty of it can be figured out by working on it.
>
>
>
> >…I think I will enroll and take a class or two just to see.
> Recommendations?
>
>
>
> For a grown-up, try that statistics and probability course.  It does not
> require a lot of math, no calculus, some table-lookup, some calculator
> stuff, plenty of reasoning.  Take your time, draw diagrams.  Don’t worry if
> you need to go back and review.
>
>
>
> BTW, my time is yours and I'll share any of my so-called knowledge with
> you like I did in the beginning.  bill w
>
>
>
> Cool thanks BillW.  I would like another pair of eyes on this, just to see
> if others find it as marvelous as I do.
>
>
>
> spike
>
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>
>
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