High school teachers looking to reinforce their curriculum and knowledge base can now tap into the course materials faculty use at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A new online program called Highlights for High School -- part of the interdisciplinary OpenCourseWare system MIT launched six years ago -- gives educators and students free Web access to the esteemed university's introductory courses and related tools, such as Advanced Placement test preparation, video demonstrations, and lab experiments. High school teachers at any level may use these resources to supplement their lesson plans, in-class activities, homework assignments, and reading lists.
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Rebekka Stone uses Highlights for High Schools to inspire her students.
Credit: Courtesy of Alma Trinidad
Rebekka Stone, a tenth-grade biology teacher in Homestead, Florida, says she uses Highlights for High School to increase her students' science comprehension and to introduce them to the idea of higher learning. Less than half of Homestead's students graduate, and Stone thinks using the MIT materials will encourage more of them to continue their education. She says students who once assumed college isn't an option for them have gained confidence by doing college-level work.
"At a school like ours, it's great that the kids can see, 'Oh, college isn't that scary.' It's definitely breaking down some of the barriers that the kids feel would prevent them from going to college," Stone says. Once they get a taste of MIT, she adds, they come to realize, "Maybe that's for me. I could do that!"
Highlights for High School offers links to nearly seventy introductory courses, and new material is added twice a year. To help navigate the site, we've singled out some downloads teachers can easily incorporate into high school curriculum. (MIT asks teachers using any element of Highlights for High School to give credit to the university and to the faculty member who created the work.)
AP Test Prep
MIT originally created Highlights for High School with the goal of helping students prepare for AP exams in biology, calculus, and physics. To supplement high school AP-prep classes, the Web site compiles material relevant to all three subjects, including video clips, exam questions, and practice problems. Rosemary Cenci, a teacher at Schuylerville Junior-Senior High School, in Schuylerville, New York, assigns her AP biology students practice problems from the MIT site to complete as homework.
"The questions are so cute and novel compared with the textbook examples," she notes, citing a problem set that explores heredity in a family in which some members carry that pesky gene for X-ray vision.
Cenci says the site also helps her stay current with new developments in biology. When she attended college, "molecular biology was just an up-and-coming field," she explains. "In the last thirty to thirty-five years, it has gone leaps and bounds above what I learned in college. The lectures at MIT have been such a valuable resource in helping me fill in some of the gaps in knowledge that I have."
Video Demonstrations
MIT's video demonstrations can engage students in science coursework by providing fun multimedia explanations of heady concepts. In Weightlessness During Free-Fall, for example, MIT physics professor Walter Lewin shows one principle of Newton's law of motion -- in real time and slow motion -- by leaping off his desk while holding a jug of water and by dropping a weight attached to a scale.
Experiment in Terror:
MIT physics professor Walter Lewin brings physics alive -- at his own peril.
Credit: Courtesy of MIT
In Collisions in Free-fall, Lewin dons hiking shorts, a pith helmet, and sunglasses to conduct a projectile experiment by firing a ball at a monkey suspended from a pole. (No monkeys were harmed in the making of this video; the test subject is of the stuffed variety.)
Teachers can browse the demonstrations by category -- from Atomic Physics and Quantum Effects to Work, Energy, and Power -- and then show the videos in class using the RealPlayer media player. Stone says she uses the MIT videos in her classes to reinforce key concepts.
The vivid lecture included in the video Teratogens, in which biology professor Hazel Sive explains the effects of alcohol on a developing fetus, had particular resonance, Stone says, because her high school struggles with teen pregnancy. "It was a take-home message of what you don't want to be doing," she recalls. "You don't want to get pregnant in high school, but if you are pregnant, you don't want to drink."
Lab Experiments
MIT is known worldwide for its contributions to science, and now high school students may duplicate the lab work of their collegiate counterparts. The chemistry and physics labs, grouped together on the site, are downloadable as PDF files and provide detailed instructions. The files may also include color images and graphs, follow-up questions, and Microsoft Excel charts to track students' results. One electricity and magnetism experiment asks students to explore light diffraction by measuring the wavelength of a laser light, the spacing between tracks on a compact disc, and the thickness of a human hair (laser light, CD, and hair not included).
Practice Problems, Suggested Readings, and More
Teachers can find practice problems, suggested readings, and supplementary assignments for most courses offered by Highlights for High School. Michele Naber, who teaches regular and AP biology at Mission Viejo High School, in Mission Viejo, California, assigns MIT's practice problems to her students as in-class assignments and on tests. She appreciates how accessible the site is, despite its wealth of information. "It's easy to use," she notes. "I've been to some sites where they put everything on one big index page, and it takes you forever to read through it. The indexing they use on this site is very search friendly. It's easy to find a specific topic."
The site includes exams with many of the courses, particularly those dealing with science and math. Some tests and assignments include answer sets for teachers. Others do not, so that MIT professors may reuse questions for future classes.
Highlights for High School provides so much material, teachers can sometimes use it to teach an entire lesson. When Jeff Weitz, a high school physics teacher at Horace Mann School, in Riverdale, New York, had to miss class for a conference, he considered assigning his students a problem set to complete in his absence. Instead, he chose to have them watch a video lecture by the always dynamic Professor Lewin.
"He's the best sub on the planet for AP physics," Weitz reports. "Lewin discussed exactly the topic I would have, so my class didn't miss a beat. The video was just a tad longer than our class period, and I know for a fact that nearly all the kids went home and watched the end. They can't give feedback any more positive than that."
Sara Ring is a contributing writer for Edutopia.org. She lives in Los Angeles.
尝试加强他们课程结构和理论基础的老师们现在可以与麻省理工大学的课件连通了。一个名为Highlights for High School，作为MIT六年前启动的OpenCourseWare交叉学科系统的一部分，给了教育者和学生们免费的网络去接触他们敬仰已久的普及性的课程和相关的工具，例如高级就业考试准备，视频解说，和实验室设备。任何阶段的高中老师都可以利用这些资源来补充他们的教学计划，室内活动，作业布置以及阅读推荐清单。
Rebekka Stone是佛罗里达Homestead的一名十年级生物老师。她说她可以用Highlights for High School这个项目来增强学生们的科学综合知识并且给他们介绍一些更好的学习方法。在Homestead差不多一般的学生面临毕业，Stone认为用MIT的资源可以鼓励更多的人继续学业。她说学生们一旦已经涉及一些大学阶段的课程以后，他们就不会再将大学假设为一种出路。
“就像在我们的学校，如果学生能认为‘噢，大学也不过如此嘛’是一件很好的事。在走向大学的过程中，这的确为他们请出了那些心理障碍，”Stone说道。 “一旦他们尝试过MIT的课程，”她补充道，“他们就会认识道，‘噢，这大概就是为我设计的。我可以完成！”
Highlights for High School提供了将近十七种普及性的课程链接，以及每两年会加入一些新的资源。为了便于浏览网站，我们已经挑选出一些老师们很容易运用到课程里的下载。（MIT要求使用任何Highlights for High School资源的老师给这所大学创作这些项目的工作人员评分。）
AP 考试准备
MIT自主开发的Highlights for High School的目标是帮助学生准备他们的生物，算术和物理AP考试。为了充实高中的AP复习课程，网站集合了一些与这三门学科相关的资源，包括视频剪辑，试题以及练习。Rosemary Cenci是纽约Schuylerville高中三年级的老师。她布置她的AP生物课的学生通过MIT网站上的练习题来完成家体作业。
“相比于教科书上的例题，那些提问都设计得太新颖生动了，”她提出，并且一边引用了一套习题来展示家族遗传中，X光线显示一些成员携带着恼人的基因。
Cenci说这个网站也同时帮助她紧跟当下生物领域的新动向。当她进入大学时，“原子生物仅仅作为一门新兴学科，”她解释说。“但是在最近的三十至二十五年里，它已经远远超越了我在学校学到的内容。这些MIT的教程已经成为了极其有价值的资源，帮助填补我这方面的知识空缺。”
视频解说
MIT的视频解说通过提供有趣的多媒体展示来带领学生进入一些科学课程中深奥的概念。在自由落体运动课中，比方说，MIT的物理学教授Walter Lewin就向我们展示了一个牛顿移动规律，在真实空间里的减速运动，他一边端着水壶跳过桌子，或者掉下一只标着重量的秤砣。
在Collisions in Free-fall中，Lewin穿上一身登山装，戴一顶安全帽和一副太阳眼镜进行一项燃烧猴子掉在竹竿上的球。（录像中没有猴子受伤，这个测试的目的根据材料的不同而不同）
老师们可以根据目录浏览这些解说——从原子和量子物理学对渐移，能量和力的影响——然后在课堂上用RealPlayer media player播放。Stone说，在课堂上，她利用MIT的视频加强一些关键的概念。
在视频Teratogens中，一个生物学教授Hazel Sive解释了酒精在发酵过程中的影响。这个生动的讲授已经产生了额外的效应，Stone说，因为她所执教的高中正在对付青少年怀孕的问题。“这会让你对那些不想做的事情有些领悟，”她回忆道。“你不想在高中怀孕，但一旦你怀孕了，你就不会想要饮酒。”
实验室试验
MIT是世界公认的对科学领域有巨大的贡献，现在高中生可以复制这些实验室的工作的副本。化学与物理实验室被设在一个网页中，可以下载PDF文档并且提供了详细的辅导。这些文档同时包含了彩色的图标，引伸问题，以及Microsoft Excel表单以供跟踪学生的结果。有一个电磁试验要求学生使用激光的波长，一个唱片上的音轨间的间距和人类头发的厚度去探索光的衍射（不使用激光，CD和头发）
实践题目，推荐阅读，等等
老师们可以找到一些实践题目，推荐阅读和Highlights for High School提供最重要的课程中的补充任务。Michele Naber在加州的Mission Viejo高中教常规的生物课以及生物AP。她将MIT中的实践题目作为课堂作业或者测试给学生们。她很感谢这个网站带来的便利，不仅仅是那些丰富的信息。“它非常易于使用，”她强调说。“我曾经去过很多把所有东西都放在一个大的索引页里的网站，它永远让你去通读那些东西。而这个网站的索引功能却非常的友好。它很容易去找到一个具体的题目。”
这个网站包括了很多课程的试卷，尤其是一些与科学和数学相关的。某些测试和作业为老师提供了答案表。有一些便没有，所以MIT的教授可以对将来的学生反复使用这些问题。
由于Highlights for High School提供的资源如此丰富，以至于有时候老师们可以用它来完成这堂课的内容。一位在纽约Riverdale Horace Mann中学的物理老师，Jeff Weitz一次因为一个会议必需耽误一堂课，他便考虑布置他的学生全部放学。取而代之的是让他们看一部总是栩栩如生的Lewin教授的视频讲学。
“这是所有关于行星的AP物理学讲座中最好的作品，”Weitz说。“Lewin具体讨论了我打算讲的一些题目，它让我一点也没耽误教学进度。这个视频仅仅比课堂时间长出一点点，并且我知道几乎所有的孩子都回家将它看完了。他们从未有过如此积极的回应。”
