Transcript Incorporating Technology Into The Teaching/Learning of

Ideas for Using Technology In
Core Mathematics Courses
Lawrence E. Levine
Levine’s Technology Theorem
Everything works either at home or
in my office, and nothing works
when I present it.
My Background
• Trained as an applied mathematician
• At Stevens since 1968
• Research interests
– Fluid dynamics
– Differential equations
– Perturbation methods
• Department Head for 5 years
• I am not a computer scientist
Achieved Some Fame
• Mathematician trading cards
– http://www.bulletproof.org/math/default.asp
• Larry Levine
– http://golem.math.stevens-tech.edu/card/
Words of Caution
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Lecture/teaching model still good
Technology will not put us out of business
Use technology only where appropriate
Can add new dimensions to the classroom
Can add new dimensions to student learning
Limitations of Technology
Do not force its use
Some Uses of Technology as a
Learning/Teaching Tool
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Course Web Sites
Teaching with computers
Locating Web resources
Mathematical slide shows
Computer homework assignments and
projects
• Discovering things using technology
Course Web Sites
• All the important information about the course
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Syllabus
Office Hours
Homework assignments
Lecture notes
Old Exams with solutions
Grades
http://attila.stevens-tech.edu/~llevine/
http://golem.math.stevenstech.edu/llevine/ma205/ma_205.html
Teaching with Computers
• Present subject matter easily
• Incorporate demonstrations in the
lectures
• Show students how to use software
• Cautions
– Must be easy to use
– Requires a great deal of good support
Web Sites for Calculus
• http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calcul
us/index.html
• http://www.math.psu.edu/dna/graphicsg.html
• http://golem.math.stevenstech.edu/ma115/
• http://golem.math.stevenstech.edu/ma116/
More Web Sites for Calculus
• http://www.math.tamu.edu/~tkiffe/webcal
c/secantapplet.html
• http://www.math.tamu.edu/~webcalc/
• http://golem.math.stevenstech.edu/llevine/ma205/lessons/lesson_21.
rap
Finding Web Sites
• Search
• Engines
– www.google.com
– www.altavista.com
– Any other search engine
Web Site Cautions
• Time considerations in creating a web
site
• Time considerations in maintaining a
web site
• Good support a must
– Undergraduates or graduates
– Deal with technical aspects
Mathematical Slide Shows I
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http://attila.stevens-tech.edu/~llevine/
These use stream technology
How created
Power Point good for creating slides
Then can easily add narration
Real media add-on to convert real format
Power Point not good for writing math
Mathematical Slide Shows II
• SNB is good for writing math
• Power Point does not read tex files
• Solution
– Prepare math using SNB
– Capture portions of file as graphics files
– Important these graphics files into Power
Point
– Add narration, convert to real format
Discovering Things Using
Technology
• Teaching the Method of Series Solution
• Polynomial solutions of DEs
• Which equations have a polynomial
solution?
• Perturbing the DE
• Using SNB to investigate this
Conclusions
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The world is changing
Technology will become more prevalent
Students must be fluent with technology
Technology opens new horizons
Many approaches
Some good, some not so good
Try new approaches, identify good ones,
develop them
• No small challenge