AoPS Online Classes

[Osmosis Mom]

So, ds took his first online class in Geometry tonight with AoPS and hates it. He had no clue where they were at in the book and nobody answered any of his questions. What to think of this?

[Teachin'Mine]

That must have been very frustrating. Could he e-mail the instructor and get some of his questions answered? He should ask how he's to know what book/page they're working on, and might want to ask what will be covered next class so he can become familiar with those pages. I hope he's able to get the help he needs to enjoy the class. :)

[8filltheheart]

I just asked my ds. He asked whether or not your ds read the introduction to the class. He said that that has the information about what needs to be done before the first class and tells about what will go on in the first class.

 

He also suggested PMing the teacher and asking the questions that way. All of his questions have been answered within a few hrs of posting.

 

HTH

[Kathy in Richmond]

Nadia, sorry your son had a frustrating evening!

 

Does he know how to access the private class forum for the geometry class? He can find class info there and ask questions.

 

Were the TA's in the room last night? My dd TA'd this class over the summer (now she's doing two classes, but different topics). The first day is always a zoo; I watched her fielding questions all night long. She said that the second TA worked equally hard. It will calm down quite a bit in subsequent weeks! Is he sure he's using the technology correctly to answer the questions? Only saying that, 'cause I've witnessed lots of classes from the background, and my two TA-kids have always gotten around to helping *everyone*, even if they have to stay after classtime hours.:) If the TA really isn't answering anything, maybe you should PM the teacher and explain what's going on. AoPS would certainly make changes.

 

Also, your son should have a class schedule for geometry, like this one but with the dates of each lecture. The very best way to be ready for the online session is to pre-read the material in the textbook before the weekly class. I would not recommend trying to follow in the book *during* class. The online sessions move way too quickly!

 

AoPS is a very different approach. It's not the typical "present a lesson, do some examples, have the kids try a problem" approach. The classes jump right in with tough problems to solve. After they take the time to think about and analyze the problems, they synthesize what they have learned and make sense out of it. And the kids taking the classes are some of the brightest kids out there. The online sessions move *fast* - it took my two kids a few times to get used to the pace.

 

Intro to geometry is one of the more difficult courses offered (yes, much more in depth than any of the standard geometry texts out there). Has your son used any of the other AoPS books before? How old is he and what is his math background? It's usually recommended to start with one of the algebras, number theory, or counting & probability.

 

Hope you get this to work for you,

 

~Kathy

[Osmosis Mom]

Thanks for these pieces of advice. I guess he is in over his head as this was his first class and he hasn't taken geometry before. I'll see what we'll do.

 

Thanks again.

[MBM]

The first online AoPS class my son took was Geometry, and his experience was much like your son's. He was very stressed. He actually did better just working through the book on his own in fits and spurts.

 

My son has taken two other classes online, but he's found he has to do the reading and problems beforehand. Sometimes he *collaborates* with other students on the AoPS message boards. At one point, he and a little group of buddies would solve some of the challengers together. It was interesting to see how respectful, inquisitive and helpful they were with each other. So, your son can also ask the other students for help. They're really a lovely bunch for the most part.

 

Good luck to him. :)

[In The Great White North]

Intro to geometry is one of the more difficult courses offered

 

So what is the easiest online class offered? That would be good to start with? (Not counting contest prep courses - they're not interested.)

[Kathy in Richmond]

IMHO, the easiest class would be either Intro to Algebra or Intro to Number Theory. My dd did the number theory online in eighth grade and had a fabulous experience. It helps to have a solid grounding in algebra first. My kiddo had Jacobs and some NEM beforehand.

 

~Kathy