Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again • Hacker News Board

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#41

Post by falcor84 » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:49 PM UTC

GolfPopper wrote: post #14

chii wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But now you have an AI that solves it for you. and then the AI explains how it was solved, step by step. You can repeatedly ask it to clarify, and it has endless patience and won't get bored or sick of you. Eventually, you understand how the equation is solved. No human teacher would be able to achieve this.

But sometimes it makes up answers that are wrong but sound plausible to you. You have no way to tell when it does this, and neither does it.

Neither can you easily notice that when a human teacher/tutor does that. At least with math, you're able to try it yourself and see if it works. I've had many cases where following through on a misleading explanation by a teacher/book actually ended up leading to me better retaining the topic.

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#42

Post by nicce » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:49 PM UTC

lannisterstark wrote: post #20

LegitShady wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have coworkers who already stop to type things into a GPT before using any part of their mind to think about things. At this point I assume its inevitable that for large segments of people, who are not actively trying to maintain the independence of their mind, will allow these computers to do their thinking and decision making for them.

Not everything needs to be analyzed ad-nauseum. Sometimes I just want an answer so I can move on and use that for something productive in my life.

> I just want an answer

The issue is that AI is not at least yet accurate enough for that. You need think on your own and be expert to spot all the inaccuracies. But then again, we are talking about how students can learn based on that...

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#43

Post by atonse » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:49 PM UTC

jsbg wrote: post #16

chii wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But now you have an AI that solves it for you. and then the AI explains how it was solved, step by step. You can repeatedly ask it to clarify, and it has endless patience and won't get bored or sick of you. Eventually, you understand how the equation is solved. No human teacher would be able to achieve this.

Exactly. In school I couldn't understand the Heine-Borel theorem and a professor actually got annoyed at me asking about it even though it was just one time. When ChatGPT was first released one of the first things I did was ask it to explain it to me. Even the 3.0 model was pretty good at it!

What I also love is that you can ask it to explain with varying degrees of simplicity.

You can say, ELI5 (like the Explain Like I'm 5 years old Subreddit), or explain it like a child, or explain it in very simple English (which is like Simple English wikipedia).

It is actually going to be the greatest learning tool, but only for people that genuinely want to learn.

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#44

Post by red_admiral » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:49 PM UTC

croes wrote: post #5

>Picture this: You're a seventh-grade student who struggles to keep up in math. But now, you have an AI tutor like the one Sal describes by your side. Picture this: You're a seventh-grade student who struggles to solve the equations in math. But now you have an AI that solves it for you. I bet that there will be more students of the later type than the former.

We've had phone apps that you can point at an equation in a textbook and it solves it for you, for several years now: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fastmath-take-photo-solve/id14...

I don't think we need Generative AI for 7th grade. College, perhaps, but how much advanced math is there in 7th grade these days?

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#45

Post by arresin » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:49 PM UTC

I never found the Kahn academy videos good. His teaching style was just totally off. I found some videos by a company called The Teaching Company. Really old school, very early 2000s or late 90s. Incredibly high quality truly gifted teachers—-just less well known online.

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#46

Post by CamelCaseName » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:50 PM UTC

jsbg wrote: post #16

chii wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But now you have an AI that solves it for you. and then the AI explains how it was solved, step by step. You can repeatedly ask it to clarify, and it has endless patience and won't get bored or sick of you. Eventually, you understand how the equation is solved. No human teacher would be able to achieve this.

Exactly. In school I couldn't understand the Heine-Borel theorem and a professor actually got annoyed at me asking about it even though it was just one time. When ChatGPT was first released one of the first things I did was ask it to explain it to me. Even the 3.0 model was pretty good at it!

I must admit, I am quite envious of students with these tools. I wish I had this during my studies.

Certainly as my parent's generation must have been with the internet and computers for me.

I'm not sure what to do with this envy. Though, it has made me want to have a child even more, just to see first hand how they could develop so much faster and smarter than me.

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#47

Post by Phiwise_ » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:50 PM UTC

falcor84 wrote: post #26

croes wrote: post #5

>Picture this: You're a seventh-grade student who struggles to keep up in math. But now, you have an AI tutor like the one Sal describes by your side. Picture this: You're a seventh-grade student who struggles to solve the equations in math. But now you have an AI that solves it for you. I bet that there will be more students of the later type than the former.

But does a typical teenager actually need to "keep up in math"? I would hazard a guess that only maybe 5% of people would need to ever utilize any math beyond basic algebra. Wouldn't it make more sense to leave these kids to do something else with their time, while offering personalized (possibly AI supported) math programs to those who actually intend to do something with it?

Those 5% go on to make an upper-class salary sitting in an air-conditioned office instead of a lower-class salary turning wrenches and stacking boxes. What makes more sense than enabling everyone who can to attain that life?

(Plus every one of them who gets out makes life better for the rest at least by reducing downward pressure on wages, and hopefully also by creating new business opportunities that raise wages further by increasing supply. Rigorous education is almost always a win-win: https://matiane.wordpress.com/2021/09/15/democratic-educatio... )

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#48

Post by sonabinu » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:51 PM UTC

7thpower wrote: post #19

I am a high school dropout and who learned math using Khan Academy after never having completed more than pre-algebra in middle school. Sal Khan’s work changed my life and allowed me to build a foundation in not only math, but also finance and economics, that allowed me to feel confident enough to go to college. I did not have a support system or people in my life who could teach me these things, but I had the intern…

A very powerful story! thanks for sharing

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#49

Post by theyinwhy » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:51 PM UTC

mminer237 wrote: post #31

chii wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But now you have an AI that solves it for you. and then the AI explains how it was solved, step by step. You can repeatedly ask it to clarify, and it has endless patience and won't get bored or sick of you. Eventually, you understand how the equation is solved. No human teacher would be able to achieve this.

That requires a young student who is really self-motivated to keep asking it to clarify things. Plenty of teachers, parents, and tutors are willing to keep trying new ways of explaining things to kids until they understand it. The kid giving up is way more common than the adult without someone pushing him to keep trying or coming back to it regularly. Obviously, not every child has someone in his life that cares enou…

For many the alternative would be no substitute at all.

Re: Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education again

#50

Post by nicce » Wed, May 22, 2024, 2:51 PM UTC

falcor84 wrote: post #26

croes wrote: post #5

>Picture this: You're a seventh-grade student who struggles to keep up in math. But now, you have an AI tutor like the one Sal describes by your side. Picture this: You're a seventh-grade student who struggles to solve the equations in math. But now you have an AI that solves it for you. I bet that there will be more students of the later type than the former.

But does a typical teenager actually need to "keep up in math"? I would hazard a guess that only maybe 5% of people would need to ever utilize any math beyond basic algebra. Wouldn't it make more sense to leave these kids to do something else with their time, while offering personalized (possibly AI supported) math programs to those who actually intend to do something with it?

There is a reason why we just don't give calculators for kids in elementary school. They need to know the basics first. Calculators have been around for quite long time. Why AI suddenly changes that?