YouTube is the new classroom for learning mathematical concepts

In the times of blended learning, online resources, be they apps or videos, have become an integral part of new-age pedagogy. The rapidly growing e-learning platforms are proving to be a helpful aid for students looking for an educational deep dive. Among all, educational videos or online classes on YouTube have emerged as one of the most cost-effective tools for students — many of them fall back on these resources either for better concept building or advanced standards of learning.

“The biggest advantage is that students can learn at their own pace,” says Vivek Raghav, an alumnus of Apeejay Stya University, who conducts live classes on YouTube for Mathematics and Physics. “Simultaneously, it gives you the freedom to go beyond chronological teaching in school and study multiple topics simultaneously. There is enough time to revisit a topic and discuss your doubts even with your peers. Here, it is not about just completing the syllabus.”

Also Read: Math Made Easy: 9 study tips to make solving problems fun

Raghav’s channel, called ‘Padhai Poori’, has 1.75k subscribers at present. These include school students who attend his classes from various corners of the country. “I get to interact with students even from the remotest areas, which is also a great source of motivation for me and helps me improve. And because one is interacting with students constantly, there is less scope for distraction as compared to a regular classroom and therefore helps in time management too.”

Outside of the boundaries of a traditional classroom, teachers on YouTube are free to experiment with a lingo more relatable to students and adopt other quirky ways to teach. “The best way to learn Math is by relating it to real-life situations. For trigonometry, funny rhymes or mnemonics can be made to learn the formulae. Or hand gestures can be used to explain angles,” Raghav says.

Students should learn a certain mathematical concept in its entirety, the teacher emphasises. “In online learning, one usually goes beyond the NCERT textbooks. In my class, we try to solve as many math problems as possible from various books. This helps students understand a concept entirely so that they can attempt any type of question, which is our focus.”

“YouTube classes are a big leveller where you have students of different socio-economic backgrounds and with varying cognitive abilities. So, we try to explain the concepts in the simplest way possible to cater to all. This, in turn, benefits all students.” Raghav adds his team has a separate WhatsApp group for the weaker students through which they can personally reach out to the teachers to clear their doubts. Sometimes, special classes are also arranged for them.