Tech Prep Region 10 Spring 1996 Workshop

February 21, 1996

Indiana University Bloomington
W. W. Wright Education 1002
Bloomington IN 47405

General Resources

If you do not have a lot of experience browsing the WWW you can find a Tutorial on using Netscape in the Netscape Handbook page. To access the Netscape Handbook page click at the Handbook button in the Netscape's Directory Buttons Toolbar. I recomend three links on that page. First, if you are in a hurry and want quick info on how to start browsing, click at the link Before You Begin, and then click at link #9 'Quickly, how do I start?' Second, if you want to know more about the WWW and the Internet in an informal and elementary way, go back to the Netscape Handbook page and follow the link Hartwarming Introduction. Finally, several lessons on using Netscape can be found following the link Learn Netscape.

If you need some pointers to interesting sites you may want to check out the JRME collection of links to web sites for math educators.

Journal For Research In Mathematics Education (JRME)

Databases

For teachers interested in using real data in their mahematics classes, a number of databases are available on the WWW . U.S. Census data from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 are available on-line. Weather maps, satellite images and other weather information are also available from a number of WWW sites. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a web site with current and historical data for 26 surveys conducted by BLS. And there are a number of databases with information on demography and population studies. Even in cases where only the teacher will have access to a computer with a web browser, teachers could select and print out data from the database and create activities that use real data to involve their students in mathematical modeling, graphing, and statistics. In order to become familiar with some of these databases we will work on a lesson that involves finding the distance between two cities, then you will explore some databases and discuss with your colleagues ideas for lessons that could be developed around those databases.

Here are some related links.

Anywhere in the USA: A lesson developed by a 7th grade teacher.
How far is it?: This service uses the University of Michigan Geographic Name Server and a supplementary database of world cities to find the latitude and longitude of two places, and then calculates the distance between them (as the crow flies). It also provides a map showing the two places, using the Xerox PARC Map Server.
Welcome to the Bureau of Labor Statistics!: Current and historical data for 26 surveys conducted by BLS, as well as numerous press releases.
Census Data at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory: Nationwide data from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 U.S. Censuses are available at LawrenceBerkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The LBNL data archive is believed to be the most complete collection of U.S. Census data on the Internet.
CERN/ANU - Demography & Population Studies WWW VL: Links to sites with information and databases on demography and population studies.
Weather: Links to sites with weather information, weather maps and satellite images.

Interactive Geometry Lessons using Sketchpad

The World Wide Web opens interesting possibilities for educational materials in the way that it combines hypertext, interaction, multi-media, and communication at a distance, particularly since users can construct their own Web contributions. Many web sites now have collections of web based lessons. The Math Forum (previously Geometry Forum) has several web based instructional units. But before you can use these lessons you need to configure your web browser so that Sketchpad is a helper application.
Try some of these lessons!

Algebra and Calculus Sketches Try the activities in the Line and Parabola sketches. You will download these sketches and use Geometer's Sketchpad to change parameters and look at the effect of the changes on the graphs.

Geometer's Sketchpad 3 Gallery Try the activities under Arcs and Architecture, Algebra and Beyond, and Physics.

Mechanical Linkages Sketches modeling different mechanisms such as elevator doors and windshield wipers.

Sketches from Key A collection of sketches from Key Curriculum.

Interactive Web Pages A collection of interactive web pages on several topics. Sketchpad is not required

Created by Enrique Galindo.
egalindo@indiana.edu
Last updated 2/20/96