OpenAha: Learn math and science by doing
openaha.org
Free, interactive lessons in math and science: 142 courses, from fractions to quantum computing. Learn by doing, with instant feedback. No account, no ads.

Hey everyone! I really like how websites like Brilliant try to teach in an interactive way. But it’s like $160 (or more depending on the region) a year so I’ve been making a free one.

It’s called OpenAha. right now there’s 140+ courses and 1000+ lessons in math, physics and chemistry. no account or ads.

A few to try if you only have a minute:

This project is mostly implemented with claude: I planned every course, then wrote the lessons with AI. so far only about one third of the pages have been carefully reviewed by a person. That’s why I’d really like people to poke at it. If a lesson is confusing or sth’s wrong, make a PR or hit the flag button in the lessons. Also feel free to contribute on github to make this even better.

code: https://github.com/open-aha/open-aha.github.io

Edit, to clear something up: OpenAha isn’t affiliated with Brilliant and doesn’t use any of their content. I don’t even have a Brilliant account. Brilliant just uses the style of learning I liked (try things first, explanation after). every lesson was written for this project, and we’re improving it as an open source community.

And yes it’s not finished, there will be mistakes. That’s what the flag button on every step is for, every report gets fixed in public on github

  • Arthur Besse@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    Regarding my background, my full name is publicly visible on github. You can search that up to see some of my background, education and activities. I have talked to some teachers about this and used their feedbacks, but there’s still a long way to go. I can’t foresee the future, but I’m serious about exploring this projects potential.

    I'm going to interpolate that answer into answers to my questions, let me know if i've gotten anything wrong:

    Are you an educator?

    No.

    And/or do you have connections with educators who plan to use this with students?

    None with plans to use it.

    Is this a solo project so far?

    Yes.

    What is the likelihood that you’ll get bored and abandon this project in a week or a month from now?

    High.

    I’m sorry to be so negative here; from what i can tell what you’ve built seems quite impressive for a solo project in such a short time. Maybe I’m wrong and this is the next Khan Academy, but I am sadly not optimistic about this evolving into something which is useful for many people.

    … but speaking of Khan Academy, why not try to build things with them instead of starting a new thing from scratch? (i don’t actually know much about them besides that they’ve been around a long time and have a good reputation from what i can tell)

    • kiarash@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      1 day ago

      Since all the lessons here are CC BY-SA, anyone, Khan Academy included, can use them as long as they keep them open. I’m also aiming to build this project in a way that it doesn’t really need me to stay alive. It’s a static site with no servers or accounts, so it costs almost nothing to run. If by any chance I ever stop, anyone can copy the repo and keep it going, lessons included. That’s kind of the point of making it open source.

      • someone@lemmy.today
        2·
        1 day ago

        How can it not be on a server? Does that mean github hosts it and you just own the domain? (I am reading your privacy policy.)

        So it involves both Github and Cloudflare, which means really not only is an IP being logged, but also other things like packet latency, mtu, packet header characteristics, and an overall network fingerprint.

        This is also the same Microsoft that helped use Microsoft Azure servers for various war activity, so this does mean data about anyone marginalized who uses this will be captured and used however… Most people don’t care about data privacy, but still it isn’t ideal.

        • Arthur Besse@lemmy.mlEnglish
          3·
          1 day ago

          They mean you can git clone it and use it locally, offline on your computer or on your own server for others to use over the internet (or over some non-internet offline network).

          When you use it on the web, there is a server serving it (the static files) to you.

          • someone@lemmy.today
            1·
            1 day ago

            Are you sure? The privacy policy says “This site is hosted on GitHub Pages by GitHub, Inc. (USA). When you visit, GitHub logs your IP address for security purposes (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR: our legitimate interest in a secure, working website). The site cannot be delivered without it. GitHub keeps these logs as long as it needs them for security and publishes no fixed period. GitHub takes part in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework; see the GitHub Privacy Statement.” I think the server itself may actually be GitHub somehow?

            • Arthur Besse@lemmy.mlEnglish
              4·
              1 day ago

              Are you sure? […] I think the server itself may actually be GitHub somehow?

              Yes, as i said:

              When you use it on the web, there is a server serving it (the static files) to you.

              And that server is github pages - one of microsoft’s free static web hosting services.

              This is might seem inconsistent with what OP said:

              It’s a static site with no servers or accounts, so it costs almost nothing to run

              … but it isn’t really imo. You always need some kind of server to put something on the web for the world (using a normal web browser without installing something else) to be able to access it; what they mean by “no servers” here is that (1) there is no logic on the server, the server just serves a static web page, and (2) you can easily get the static files yourself and serve them yourself (or browse them from your filesystem without even serving them).