Historical Treasure Chest
This project provides a model for engaging students in an investigation of authentic materials from the past. The students will be provided with four primary sources and questions to guide their investigation. A wealth of other primary resources can be accessed on the websites listed in the reference section.
Reports from the Curriculum Foundations Project
This page holds the archived reports from the Curriculum Foundations Project. This project held workshops in several different subject areas in order to initiate a dialogue among the representatives from each partner discipline, with mathematicians present to listen and serve as a resource when questions about the mathematics curriculum arose. Users can access Microsoft Word reports as well as a compressed full report.
Introduction to Flash MX
This course offers an introduction to the Macromedia Flash multimedia authoring environment. It incorporates hands-on experience developing streaming web-based multimedia presentations including animation, sound, and graphics with Macromedia's Flash MX application. In each lesson, students build a module that contributes to the shaping of a final project - a basic educational, personal, or business website in Flash. Flash offers scripting capabilities and server-side connectivity for creating en
Natural Inquirer Podcasts
This podcast project took place at a local middle school. When the teacher and students finished the project, the teacher created a "How To" document for working with students to create podcasts.
Computational Chemistry: An Introduction to Molecular Dynamic Simulations
This module gives a brief overview of computational chemistry, a branch of chemistry concerned with theoretically determining properties of molecules. The fundamentals of how to conduct a computational project are discussed as well as the variety of different models that can be used. Because of the ...
Perspectives on Case-based Multimedia Web Projects in Science
This article discusses the merits of case-based learning in an interactive online environment. Researchers used both qualitative and quantitative research over a 2-year period to examine the learning that occurred in a high school context when students were engaged in a case-based multimedia project. ...
"Game Design, Spring 2008"
" An historical examination and analysis of the evolution and development of games and game mechanics. Topics include a large breadth of genres and types of games, including sports, game shows, games of chance, schoolyard games, board games, roleplaying games, and digital games. Students submit essays documenting research and analysis of a variety of traditional and eclectic games. Project teams required to design, develop, and thoroughly test their original games."
"Frameworks and Models in Engineering Systems / Engineering System Design, Spring 2007"
" This class provides an introduction to quantitative models and qualitative frameworks for studying complex engineering systems. Also taught is the art of abstracting a complex system into a model for purposes of analysis and design while dealing with complexity, emergent behavior, stochasticity, non-linearities and the requirements of many stakeholders with divergent objectives. The successful completion of the class requires a semester-long class project that deals with critical contemporary
Parallel lines. (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page that demonstrate the properties of parallel lines in coordinate geometry. The applet presents two lines, each defined by a pair of draggable points. If they are parallel the slopes are the same and the applet adds the parallel arrow marks to them. The slope of each line is continuously recalculated and the case of vertical lines (with undefined slope) is handled correctly. The is a software 'detent' that snaps the lines to parallel if they are close
The Coordinate Plane
An interactive applet and associated web page that describe the concept of the coordinate plane (Cartesian Plane). The applet shows the plane, its axes, origin and related controls. The user can drag a point around and see the coordinates change, and click anywhere to create new points. The origin can be dragged to emphasize or eliminate certain quadrants. The grid, axis pointers and coordinates can be turned on and off. The coordinate display can be turned off to permit class exercises and then
Coordinates of a point
An interactive applet and associated web page that describe the concept of a point in coordinate geometry. The applet show one point initially, but clicking anywhere adds more. As the points are dragged, the coordinates are seen to change. The grid, axis pointers and coordinates can be turned on and off. The coordinate display can be turned off to permit class exercises and then turned back on the verify the answers. The applet can be printed as it appears on the screen to make handouts. The web
Distance from a point to a line
An interactive applet and associated web page that demonstrate how to find the perpendicular distance between a point and a line. The applet has a line with sliders that adjust its slope and intercept, and a draggable point. As the line is altered or the point dragged, the distance is recalculated. The page actually shows four ways to do it, with links to detail pages on each one. The grid and coordinates can be turned on and off. The distance calculation can be turned off to permit class exerci
Distance from a point to a line using trigonometry
An interactive applet and associated web page that demonstrate how to find the perpendicular distance between a point and a line using trigonometry, given the coordinates of the point and the slope/intercept of the line. The applet has a line with sliders that adjust its slope and intercept, and a draggable point. As the line is altered or the point dragged, the distance is recalculated. The grid and coordinates can be turned on and off. The distance calculation can be turned off to permit class
Ray definition (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page that show the definition of a ray in coordinate geometry. The applet has two points that the user can drag. The two points define a ray, one of them the endpoint, the other a secondary point through which the ray passes. The grid, axis pointers and coordinates can be turned on and off. The applet can be printed as it appears on the screen to make handouts. The web page has a full definition of a ray when the coordinates of the points defining it are
Rectangle Area and Perimeter. (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page that show the definition and properties of a rectangle in coordinate geometry. The applet has a rectangle with draggable vertices. As the user re-sizes the rectangle the applet continuously recalculates its width, height and diagonals from the vertex coordinates. Rectangle can be rotated on the plane to show the more complex cases. The grid, coordinates and calculations can be turned on and off for class problem solving. The applet can be printed in
Rectangle and its properties. (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page showing how to find the area and perimeter of a rectangle from the coordinates of its vertices. The rectangle can be either parallel to the axes or rotated. The grid and coordinates can be turned on and off. The area and perimeter calculation can be turned off to permit class exercises and then turned back on the verify the answers. The applet can be printed as it appears on the screen to make handouts. The web page has a full description of the meth
Square and its properties (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page that show the definition and properties of a square when applied in coordinate geometry. The applet has a square, and the user can drag any vertex to resize it. It shows how to calculate the side lengths and diagonal length given the vertex coordinates. The grid and coordinates can be turned on and off. The applet can be printed as it appears on the screen to make handouts. The web page has a full definition of a square when the coordinates of the po
Area and Perimeter of a square (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page showing how to find the area and perimeter of a square from the coordinates of its vertices. The square can be either parallel to the axes or rotated. The grid and coordinates can be turned on and off. The area and perimeter calculation can be turned off to permit class exercises and then turned back on the verify the answers. The applet can be printed as it appears on the screen to make handouts. The web page has a full description of the method for
Area of a triangle using the box method (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page that calculate the area of a triangle using the box method in coordinate geometry. The applet has a triangle with draggable vertices. As you drag them the triangle's bounding box is shown and the area recalculated by subtracting the areas of the outside triangles. The grid and coordinates can be turned on and off. The area calculation can be turned off to permit class exercises and then turned back on the verify the answers. The applet can be printed
Vertical line definition. (Coordinate Geometry)
An interactive applet and associated web page that show the definition of a vertical line in coordinate geometry. The applet has two points that the user can drag which define a line. The line flagged when it is vertical (slope=undefined). The grid, details and coordinates can be turned on and off. The applet can be printed exactly as it appears on the screen to make handouts. The web page has a discussion on how to test for vertical and has links to other pages relating to coordinate geometry.
