It’s midnight.  You’ve done it again — scrolled through Twitter, played an unreasonable amount of Pokémon Go and now that you’re home you remember the math homework you’ve left unfinished.  The equations learned just hours ago now appear to have been written in a foreign language.  You open YouTube, and instead of watching Frank Ocean’s new music video, you click onto Algeomulus Prep Academy, the math channel made by students for students.

Algeomulus Prep Academy, an online YouTube channel, was established and designed by a team of math teachers here at West, but it has truly been the students who have made the channel a success.  Though anonymous, the voices and hands of students write and explain pivotal math concepts, ranging through Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus, Calculus and Statistics.  All videos are scripted, edited and created by students, and this, the teachers say, is the beauty of it.

Mr. Farrens, a collaborator in the creation of Algeomulus, has been a math teacher for almost twenty-three years.  After lectures he would often observe as students turned to one another and reteach the same concept. “I see the kid saying the same thing I said, but for some reason the kid gets it better from the other kid,” Farrens said.  Mr. Keating noticed this as well.  “I was always interested in how students helping students tends to be more productive in the long run,” he said. “But you can’t always be there to see it.”

So, Mr. Farrens thought, “Why not capture that?”

Algeomulus is not just a way for students outside of the classroom to learn — it is engaging students within the classroom as well.  Through the process of making a video, students must sharpen their collaboration, communication and creative and critical-thinking skills, all imperative characteristics needed for the 21st century job market.

“I really love watching how a student goes from not understanding a concept all the way to beautiful, clear academic language,” Mrs. Krasnova said on the subject.  Mr. James emphasized this, saying that “having students create tutorials to teach other students made them really be sure they knew what they were talking about, so they became experts in that particular topic.”

With grants given by the Intrepid Foundation, new equipment is being provided for the expansion of Algeomulus, as well as funds to train teachers on understanding the technology.  Ultimately, Algeomulus aims to provide access to tutorials on every math concept, free to the world, and this opportunity is made available only from the hard work, dedication and creativity of the students involved.

And thus, the procrastinating student thanks you.