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MIT Orients Course Materials Online to K-12

Gilbert Strang, seated in his office in Cambridge, Mass., is one MIT mathematics professor whose classes can be seen on the new Web site. “I’ve always wanted to make more of a contribution to K-12,” he said.

—Steven Senne/AP

By Sean Cavanagh

Many of the students in Rebekka L. Stone’s biology classes hope to become the first in their families to graduate from high school. Some are struggling to master basic English, much less the more intricate language of science.

Yet when she wants to introduce a topic to her students or reinforce one they’ve already covered, the Homestead, Fla., teacher doesn’t hesitate to direct them to one of the most elite sources of scientific information in the world: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The third-year teacher is just one of many science and mathematics educators across the country taking advantage of a Web site created by MIT, the famed research university located in Cambridge, Mass., which offers free video, audio, and print lectures and course material taken straight from the school’s classes. Those resources target...