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Source: Working Mother Magazine, September 2000
ONLINE HOMEWORK HELPERS
IT'S 8:00 PM, THE DISHES ARE DONE, and you want to relax--but your son is stumped by a vexing math problem. He asks for help. Alas, the ability to compute the area of a triangle has receded to the inner pockets of your brain. Fear not. If you have Internet access, you're both in luck. Most homework-help sites claim they can help kids ages 5 to 18 on everything from the Pythagorean theorem--is that how to figure triangle area?--to the Periodic Table. But do they work? WM dispatched two high school students to find out: Kevin Klarfeld, 15, of Queens, New York, and Meghan Modica, 16, of Washington Township, New Jersey.
THEIR FINDINGS: THE FREE SITES OFFER GREAT HELP SOLVING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS, BUT SLOWLY. ONE-ON-ONE TUTORING SITES, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE FAST, BUT YOU'LL HAVE TO SHELL OUT SOME DOUGH--CREDIT CARDS ONLY --ANN QUIGLEY
| THE SITE | COST | PROMISES | WHAT HAPPENED | KIDS' COMMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
MathNerds mathnerds.com Help with K-12 math problems from volunteers including students, professors, and professionals. |
Free | This site provides guidance, references and hints, not answers. It responds to 75 per cent of the questions it receives, most of them within a few days. | Both testers received suggestions--including an equation, hints on where certain numbers went, amd a diagram--within 24 hours via E-mail. |
"They
did a good job."
"I liked the diagram they provided to help me solve the problem." |