You may have already heard the news that MIT has a free online program called “Open Course Wear” which contains course material for roughly 2,100 MIT classes. If you haven’t, you can read all about it in the Forbes article, “M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All” found here.

What you may not know is that included on MIT’s Open Course Wear site is a special section for high school students. This “Highlights for High School” section, found here, offers students a guide to MIT courses selected specifically to help them prepare for AP exams, learn more about the skills and concepts they learned in high school, and get a glimpse of what they’ll soon study in college.

Students looking for additional help in Biology, Calculus, Chemistry and Physics can find videos on specific topics in each subject on this site. There are also video demonstrations of a variety of scientific principles taken from various MIT classes. If your son (or daughter) has an interest in attending MIT, there are, of course, links to admissions information. But the free study materials offered on this site appear user friendly for any science student. Tell your science-studying high schooler to check them out!

More news from the world of online courses: You will recall earlier GCP articles about Khan Academy, the series of free tutorial videos designed for K-12 students. Craig Silverstein, the first employee hired by the two founders of Google, has left Google to join Khan Academy as a developer. Sounds like Khan Academy has big plans!