School Yourself

We are excited to announce that School Yourself has been acquired by Amplify Education! We are joining an incredible team, committed to improving education through innovation (where we'll feel right at home!).

The existing School Yourself content library will remain freely available, both at schoolyourself.org and through edX.

Our new interactive lesson on rainbows is here! https://schoolyourself.org/learn/sy/geometry/rainbow

Cool things this lesson covers:
1) Where do rainbows come from? Raindrops? Sunlight?
2) Why are they circular arcs?
3) Why is the sky brighter under the rainbow?
4) DOUBLE rainbows?!

Congrats to all our students, including those on edX. Together, they've solved over 10 MILLION math problems!

Our very first physics lesson is here!!!
https://schoolyourself.org/learn/sy/geometry/refraction

Try drawing the path light travels between water and air, and discover for yourself why light bends (or "refracts") as it passes between materials.

Students drop out of online courses when they're not given helpful feedback. With our tools for making lessons adaptive, we're giving students the useful feedback they need to stay engaged!

http://blog.schoolyourself.org/2015/08/how-to-make-course-adaptive-without.html

School Yourself: How to make a course adaptive (without really trying) I was incredibly impressed with this during a lesson in the Algebra I course. I got an answer wrong and the system knew WHY I got that answer wrong. It was really neat and very helpful (I'm sure I forgot to flip a sign somewhere). I'm looking forward to the completion of the Algebra II course! Thank…

With the power of data, we can detect when student are guessing through lessons. Turns out it happens about 1% of the time. (And we know how to push that number even lower!)

http://blog.schoolyourself.org/2015/08/how-often-do-students-guess-their-way.html

School Yourself: How often do students guess their way through?

We got some wonderful feedback from our edX students. They're loving AlgebraX and GeometryX, and also had great suggestions for how to further improve our courses.

http://blog.schoolyourself.org/2015/07/students-prefer-school-yourself-over.html

School Yourself: Students prefer School Yourself over Khan Academy and other MOOCs, suggest...

"Will this be on the test?" Students ask this whenever math teachers go through proofs. Yes, they'll use the resulting formulas on their exam, but they don't care where the formulas come from. They only have so much time, and they'd prefer to ace the exam.

But maybe, when that time pressure is removed and students can learn at their own pace, they'll take an interest in WHY formulas are true as well. And that's exactly what we're seeing in on edX. Most students choose to work through optional proofs, even though they're NOT on the test. If you give students some time and freedom, they may surprise you!

Get the full story at the SY blog: http://blog.schoolyourself.org/2015/07/will-this-be-on-test.html

School Yourself: Will this be on the test?

How long do you think it would take you to learn high school algebra or geometry? We were surprised to find that most students in and on edX complete these year-long courses in less 24 hours. (But not all in one sitting...that would be rough.) Check out our blog for the details!

http://blog.schoolyourself.org/2015/06/can-you-learn-algebra-in-24-hours.html

School Yourself: Can you learn Algebra in 24 hours?

We're proud to announce that the students in AlgebraX and GeometryX, our two edX courses, have now collectively solved more than 5 MILLION review questions. Incredible!

Our CEO Zach Wissner-Gross sat down with Jay Sugarman, the host of Innovation Showcase. During the half-hour program, they discussed the origins of School Yourself, how the team personalizes learning at scale, and what's on the horizon.

NewTV Innovation Showcase: School Yourself CEO Zach Wissner-Gross interviewed by Jay Sugarman from NewTV's Innovation Showcase. To try the lessons for yourself, visit http://schoolyourself.org or sign...

Looking over edX student data for , we found exactly where it gets hard: simultaneous equations, fractional exponents, and calculating intercepts. Our mission: Make even these topics easy for our students.

http://blog.schoolyourself.org/2015/05/finding-exactly-where-algebra-gets-hard.html

School Yourself: Finding exactly where algebra gets HARD