MamaSprout Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 (edited) I really like the looks of this: https://ocw.mit.edu/high-school/ Rigorous, self-paced, mostly textbook based (which is a plus for us), secular. Is there a catch other than needing to grade things ourselves? Anyone have any favorites? Any courses to avoid? Thanks! Edited February 12, 2017 by elladarcy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 I just looked at the "high school courses" for physics, a subject where I have expertise, and a few things jump out: Some courses are enrichment courses and do not cover the material of a traditional high school credit. Some are very special topics and heavily student project based (the physics of rock climbing for example) There is not a single course that is comparable to the content of a typical high school course. So, while I am sure the courses are interesting and well done, I would be very careful with the selection and make sure the course choice fits into your overall high school plans. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 We have not used physics or other sciences. We did use kitchen chemistry for a short time and found it well done. DS's favorites were single variable calculus and multivariable calculus. He only used them as supplements for more problems and video instruction though so we did not do any grading nor list them on his transcript/ course descriptions. If Mike in SA does not reply, you might try pm-ing him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor_dad Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 (edited) I just looked at the "high school courses" for physics, a subject where I have expertise, and a few things jump out: Some courses are enrichment courses and do not cover the material of a traditional high school credit. Some are very special topics and heavily student project based (the physics of rock climbing for example) There is not a single course that is comparable to the content of a typical high school course. So, while I am sure the courses are interesting and well done, I would be very careful with the selection and make sure the course choice fits into your overall high school plans. Physics is sort of a weird case. Walter Lewin's very good OCW scholar courses and videos which covered all of intro physics got pulled after he was removed from faculty for alleged sexual harassment of online students. If you look at either the HS page or https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/ you will find full intro courses for the other sciences and some social sciences. Edited February 12, 2017 by raptor_dad 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Physics is sort of a weird case. Walter Lewin's very good OCW scholar courses and videos which covered all of intro physics got pulled after he was removed from faculty for alleged sexual harassment of online students. If you look at either the HS page or https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/ you will find full intro courses for the other sciences and some social sciences. I think this is what is available as a "replacements": https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-01t-physics-i-fall-2004/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-01x-physics-i-classical-mechanics-with-an-experimental-focus-fall-2002/ 8.01 is a university level course not high school so would be useful as a second course in Physics. http://catalog.mit.edu/subjects/8/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in SA Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Physics is sort of a weird case. Walter Lewin's very good OCW scholar courses and videos which covered all of intro physics got pulled after he was removed from faculty for alleged sexual harassment of online students. If you look at either the HS page or https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/ you will find full intro courses for the other sciences and some social sciences. Yep, physics is in a weird spot right now. We have copies of those, and they can still be found elsewhere online, but not on the OCW site. They formed the traditional 3-course introductory sequence: mechanics, electricity & magnetism, and light & heat. You can pair those with any classic calculus-based textbook - though I like Halladay & Resnick, we use Sears & Zemansky because we have the complete teachers kits. Any of the "scholar" courses are great. Other than those, we've found you need to look at how complete the videos are, and whether there is a syllabus and schedule provided. Once you have those, you're set to go. You should expect to form your own tests and handle grading yourself. We haven't found any to put in the "avoid" category, but we always look for a complete course. We've done Psychology, Fundamentals of Biology, Principles of Chemical Science, and Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Bio only covers half of Campbell-Reece, but it's the tough half. We used self-study materials for the second half. Chemistry was the best chemistry course my wife or I have ever seen. It opens with quantum mechanics, and is calculus-based, so it's not to be used as an introduction to chemistry. SICP is one of the all-time great computer science courses, though it is falling out of favor and is tricky to set up. It's based on Scheme (a variant of LISP), and there aren't a lot of editor/compiler options for it. However, with the re-emergence of artificial intelligence and data science, the concepts in the course are still extremely relevant. MIT has moved on to Python-based courses for computer science, and the 3-course sequence online is still a good one. We haven't used the math courses, as we're qualified to teach math without the help of videos, but they have lots of good math available. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Physics is sort of a weird case. Walter Lewin's very good OCW scholar courses and videos which covered all of intro physics got pulled after he was removed from faculty for alleged sexual harassment of online students. If you look at either the HS page or https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/ you will find full intro courses for the other sciences and some social sciences. Yes, Walter Lewin's course was excellent - but it was a calculus based university physics course aimed at an audience of college students and not typical "high school level", nor designed for a high school audience. The regular Open Courseware is all straight university courses. Many are very good. I was specifically commenting on the deisgnated "high school " program. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in SA Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Yes, Walter Lewin's course was excellent - but it was a calculus based university physics course aimed at an audience of college students and not typical "high school level", nor designed for a high school audience. The regular Open Courseware is all straight university courses. Many are very good. I was specifically commenting on the deisgnated "high school " program. Very true. The freshman-level courses are at least AP level, and generally higher to much higher - some of the full video courses exceed general university education (graduate level). However, the instruction quality is so good that I would venture that any student prepared for the AP course would be well served by using the OCW introductory course instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) Makes sense. We have a good option for dual enrollment for calc based physics, so likely will go that route when we get there. Otherwise, there seems to be plenty to keep dd busy in the meantime. Thanks! ETA- the chemistry sounds perfect for dd, who spends hours a week on art, "3.091SC is not "just a chemistry class" - it's a chemistry-centered class that integrates examples from the world around us, in the arts and humanities, the human stories behind the science, and applications to engineering and emerging technologies." Edited February 13, 2017 by elladarcy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 ETA- the chemistry sounds perfect for dd, who spends hours a week on art, "3.091SC is not "just a chemistry class" - it's a chemistry-centered class that integrates examples from the world around us, in the arts and humanities, the human stories behind the science, and applications to engineering and emerging technologies." Professor Sadoway is a brilliant teacher! They used to bring him out to give a sample lecture during parents' events. He even made me want to take chemistry again. :001_smile: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 My DS is using the intro to computer science and electrical engineering course and it's been fabulously challenging for him! Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Professor Sadoway is a brilliant teacher! They used to bring him out to give a sample lecture during parents' events. He even made me want to take chemistry again. :001_smile: :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: I had him for a couple classes. He made Polymer Chemistry so fascinating that I decided to TA for him so I could sit in on the classes again. Wendy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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