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Article Review FRIT 7235
Article Review FRIT 7235
Will Foster
Cargile, L., & Harkness, S. (2015). Flip or Flop: Are Math Teachers Using Khan Academy as Envisioned
by Sal Khan?. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 59(6), 21-28.
doi:10.1007/s11528-015-0900-8
Type: Research
Summary and Critique:
This study was centered on the Khan Academy mathematics program and its use in mathematics
classrooms. Sal Khan, the creator of Khan Academy, designed his program to allow students to be able to
master the content more quickly. He envisioned that this more efficient acquisition of the content would
allow students more time for other learning that involved more hands-on activities and applied problems.
The research conducted in this research study sought to see whether this was how the program was
actually being used in mathematics classrooms. The researcher chose five students in varying school
systems who were using Khan Academy in their math classes to answer questions about their use of Khan
Academy. From the interviews it was observed that the teachers of these students were using Khan
Academy extensively, but they were not using in as it was designed to be used. In most cases it was used
to supplement lecture style learning in the classroom. Specifically it was observed that Khan Academy
was not being used in order to facilitate more collaborative learning. It was also not being used so that
students could master content faster in order to open more time for other types of learning to occur.
Overall the article was successful in communicating and supporting the point that Khan Academy
was not being used as it was designed in the school systems involved in the study. The author noted that
no other research had been done on this subject so there was no data to in which to compare the results of
this research. This article was successful in allowing the reader to better understand the idea behind Khan
Academy. It gave insight into why the Khan Academy program makes videos and problem sets.
The problems in the paper related were based around the weaknesses of the research. There were
only five interviews conducted. There were no in class observations and all the results from this study
hinge upon the answers given in the interviews of the students. It would have been useful to also get the
teacher perspectives and thoughts behind their use of Khan Academy in their classrooms. I would have
liked to hear their reasoning behind their use and why they thought what they were doing in their
classrooms was their best practices. While I did not think the results of the study were especially
impactful, the insight the study gave on Khan Academy and the idea behind it was informative and will
influence how I use it in my own classroom.