Helping Kids Love And Achieve In Math

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Gareth Cook loved the beauty of math; but she hated it in school - where teachers taught to the 'middle', and bright kids got bored.

Now, she writes about an exciting solution in math education that she wishes was around when she was a kid. It's the non-profit Khan Academy, developed by Salman Kahn, former hedge-fund employee educated at MIT, who started helping his cousin with math remotely.

Khan Academy is a free website that offers 'startling clear' mini-lectures, combined with software that generates exercises, feedback and encouragement with points and badges inspired by the video-game world. Last year, achievement of 7th graders in Los Altos, California, went from 23% to 35% proficiency, listening to tapes at home and working on laptops in class.

Lectures are the passive part and the active part is when teachers help students in classrooms where young people of all abilities work side-by-side. The 2400 videos are backed by Google and Bill Gates.

Check out Khan Academy at Boston.com.

Reported By Dr. Marciene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio