But I wanttoputthatworkasidefor a momentandjustfocusonthemillionsofviewerswhowatchhissciencevideosonline.
Yousee, I'm skepticalthattheyactuallypromotesomemeaningfullearning, andthat's notjust a commentaboutKhan's videosbut a commentonsciencevideosingeneral.
Soletmeexplainthatskepticism.
I wrotemyPhDthesisonhowtocreatefilmstoteachscience, specificallyphysics.
In a typicalstudy, studentsaccessto a websitewheretheytook a multiplechoicepretest.
Thequestionsweresomethinglike.
Consider a basketballplayershootingfromthefreethrowlineaftertheballleaveshishand.
Theforceontheballis a upwardsandconstant.
Beupwardsanddecreasingseadownwardsandconstantdedownwardsanddecreasingor e tangenttothepathoftheball.
Take a minutetothinkaboutwhichansweryouwouldpickandwhatyouthinkmostotherpeoplewouldpick.
Whenaskedtoratehowmuchmentalefforttheyinvestedinwatchingthevideos, studentswhosawthedialoguewithmisconceptionsaveraged a wholepointhigherthanthosewhosawtheexplanationwithoutmisconceptions.
Thisis a viciouscyclethatwehavetofind a waytobreakin.
Ordertohaveeffectivescienceeducation.
SotheKhanvideosareamazinganddefinitely a valuableresourcefor a scienceeducatorsandperhapspeoplelookingfor a bitofreview.
Butforthosewhoarejuststartingtolearnscience, I questionwhetherit's goingtobethatvaluablebecauseitdoesn't reallyquestiontheirmisconceptionsbytheofficeandtakeonedaytogetitonthesun.