Technology in the Classroom: Quick Looks - Type of use

Modeling

• Steve Ackerman, a meteorology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been using java applets (available for free download) with great success in his Introduction to Weather and Climate course.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - First, these simulations are visual and I have a lot of visual learners; second, they present the concept without complex mathematics...
  - If I don't spend time explaining the applet features, students quickly get lost. Students need guidance in how to use the different parameters appropriately.
  - 82% "believed" or "somewhat believed" that the applets helped them to master skills and concepts more quickly than with traditional methods.
  

• Alan Arbour, a mechanical engineering professor at Lambton College, uses MDSolids® to reinforce the basic concepts by providing an interactive visual representations in his classroom.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - I needed a mechanism to reinforce the concepts
  - Our technologists compete against people with degrees
  - This software is versatile and easy to use...
  

• John Belcher, a physics professor at MIT, uses 2D and 3D animation to teach his electromagnetism class.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - The students did well on the tests but I think it was rote learning.
  - Animation can give you access to many more levels of abstraction
  - "Point Charge Attracted to a Charged Sphere," helps my students visualize vector fields
  

• Jim Kaput, a mathematics professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, with his SimCalc Project, has developed software simulations and curricular activities for students from the third grade through college calculus with an emphasis towards students typically without access to these tools.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - The SimCalc team came together to democratize access to the core ideas of calculus, the mathematics of change and variation.
  - I had this notion of using motion simulations to make calculus ideas more learnable, in particular, using things like velocity and position graphs hot-linked to motion simulations.
  - Student learning data are quite impressive, particularly among disadvantaged younger students who would otherwise rarely be given the opportunity to encounter these ideas.
  

• Frank Lee, an engineering professor from Bellevue Community College, uses Working Model 2D as a tool in class to visually verify with simulations the calculations the students are doing by hand.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - But students can't do much wondering when they're just trying to do the calculations. And if they can't visualize how an object is moving, then solving the equations that describe how it's moving is going to be even tougher.
  - They do the number crunching and they get a result. I tell them, "As engineers, you'd be asking, 'Is this result correct? Did I make any mistakes?'"
  - The software, whiz-bang, is great. But just because you can make the software run doesn't mean you know the concepts. Helping them learn the concepts is what we're going for.
  

• Greg Miller has developed a series of computer programs for his Mechanics of Materials course, some of which is available for free download. The software allows, among other things, the students to manipulate beam bending behavior, and to visualize and manipulate second-order tensors in three dimensions.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - Like many instructors, I've experienced frustrating times when I feel I've hit a wall in what I'd like to communicate to our students and what I actually can communicate.
  - We wanted to introduce sophomore-level students to real-world engineering practices, get them working in groups and learning effective communication skills
  - I want to emphasize that technology might not be the answer if an instructor feels that his or her students do not seem to be engaged in the lectures.
  

• Robert Mott, an engineering professor at the University of Dayton, has his students work with MDSolids® several different engineering courses.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - We think it's important for students to learn the fundamentals of the subject matter.
  - You can't simply dump students into a program unless they understand what the program is doing.
  

• Robert Olin, a professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, first describes how his department started to introduce technology and computer software into their mathematics course, and how this lead to the establishment of the Math Emporium.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - We had three compelling reasons for bringing learning technology to the Math Department: increasing enrollment, calculus reform, and we wanted to be a leader in using technology.
  - With only 78 computers and nearly 2,000 students, assessments showed that students in this new technology initiative were performing at or above the level of students in traditional courses.
  - The Emporium has been so successful that a lot of institutions are building these facilities now.
  

• James White describes the New Mathwright Library, how Mathwright can help students succeed in mathematics, and some example books created by this authoring program he developed.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - In traditional mathematics courses, the students learn a certain game--they learn a kind of stimulus response approach to learning mathematics.
  - My idea was that computer environments could support the strategy that Piaget proposed: to involve the students actively in their own learning by letting them ask questions, by letting them be the ones who constructed their knowledge.
  - One book created by a teacher had three polluted lakes, two of them feeding into a third one, with the first lake feeding into the second.
  

• Manoochehr Zoghi, an enginner from the University of Dayton, describes how he uses MDSolids® in his Strengths of Materials and Statics courses.
  Summary
  Full Story:
  - My feeling is that students learn a lot if they look at "what if?" scenarios, and MDSolids® works very well with that
  - The software's ability to provide visualization is its major strength--it allows users to develop an intuitive understanding of the concepts.
  - Using learning technology puts the coursework into perspective for the students, relating homework to actual work that engineers do