Members home
The members of the team are all from Kirby Hall School in Austin, Texas,
and Ridgeview High School in Bakersfield, California. Kirby Hall was founded
in 1976 as a private school. Ridgeview was founded two years ago, so this
school is without seniors for the time being. Another difference between
these schools is the number of students. Ridgeview has 1,500 students and
expects to have 2,000 next year. Kirby is a K-12 school that has 174 students
and only 25 of these students are in the high school, six will graduate
this year.
Kirby Hall has two small computer labs with 11 networked computers in each.
The upper school computer room is also the math room. Students in math use
the computers for math class. The small size allowes each student to have
more time with computers, and persue individual computer projects. Ridgeview
is much larger school and has large computer room. The computer rooms are
dedicated to teaching computer science classes. Because there are so many
students, each individual student has less time to use the computers. The
network at Ridgeview proviedes students with Internet access and e-mail
addresses for individual students. Kirby has just has gained network access
to the Internet and it is not completely configured. At Kirby Hall, e-mail
for individual students will not be available until the fall of 1996.
With team members Ivana, Patricia, Jessica, and our coaches, Mr. Dulaney
and Mr. Gehrett, the group varies in backgrounds. This provides an international
perspective to our proposal. Jessica lives in Bakersfield, California, but
was born in Colorado. Ivana comes from the capital of Argentina, Buenos
Aires. Patricia's family mostly comes from Karnes City, a small town in
Texas. Other differences in our team members are grade level and age. Patricia
(16) and Jessica(16) are in the tenth grade and are both in pre-calculus.
Ivana (18) is in the twelfth grade and is studying calculus. All of
Overview
We propose to develop a math Web site that addresses the needs of students
learning geometry. Our Web site will contain Web resources and Web tools
that can be integrated into daily math lectures and classroom activities.
Our goal is to find new ways of using computer technology to improve math
education.
Our site will feature news and stories about the advances in
computer technology and how this technology is currently being used to improve
math education.
an expanding searchable database of available Internet math resource
Web based glossary of terms and definitions used in math
self-paced math courses for geometry, including
Lessons which introduce unit material
Open-ended, interactive exercises using JAVA
Lesson problems
Lesson tests
Cumulative tests
forum for Math Discussion including:
a forum to discuss the site, its direction, improvements
a chat hall with online student tutors
The Web site can be used by teachers to cover chapter material. Students
in geometry can work their proofs and have every theorem, definition, and
formula only three clicks away. The nature of the web will allow many students
to use the site simultaneously.
Think Quest Objectives >Create Collaboration
Our site is being developed in the school and at the homes of our team members.
We collaborate using e-mail messages to communicate and post group documents
on our Web server so that all members can view and discuss our work as it
progresses. We have found it useful to post deadlines and task assignments
as Web pages so that all team members can access the information at home
and at school. We hope to use video conferences with Cu-SeeMe software for
project review meetings with the member at another school.
Create Structure
We will create a Web site with a forum and chat room where students act
as tutors for other students, answering questions about the site and helping
each other learn math. The forum will address the question of how computer
technology can improve math education. Our team members, who are students,
have tried to investigate needs of students studying geometry. We propose
to create Web-based solutions to the needs we identify. When students have
written geometry proofs, they said it takes too long to use the book to
look up terms and definitions that they have forgotten. We have begun work
on a Web tool such as a glossary of terms, definitions, theorems, and postulates
which students of geometry need to have ready access to when writing geometry
proofs. Our geometry web tool, using frames, aims to put any term, definition,
theorem, or postulate within three mouse clicks of the user. Using forms,
the worked proof can be e-mailed to the teacher for review. With a more
powerful server and software we expect to be able to give students problems
over the web and have them corrected by the server.
Our Web site will contain interactive explorations of fundamental math concepts
such as the slope intercept equation for a line. Java and shockwave will
provide exercises that use animation to communicate the meanings of math
equations. Students will be able to change the orientation of a line by
pushing buttons with their mouse and to see the changes to the equations
as the graph of the line changes.
Our Web site is being developed by students and teachers as tools to be
used in everyday class situations. This represents a substantial contribution
to educational content due to our Web server. The nature of the web allows
this content to be accessed and used at home by individual students or at
school in the class.
Plan of Implementation (with three phases) We will construct our
entry in three phases.
Phase One: This will establish our math Web site. This will be done using
basic HTML editing. The project description and investigation will be the
subject presented using the hyper media to communicate our intentions.
The site will contain:
project descriptions
our bookmark list
research and development samples
lessons 1-3 for geometry course
survey forms and e-mail comments request
We plan to spend one month creating the Web structure we will need to present
our entry. Our work will focus on the look and feel, navigation, fundamental
content, and instructions for the user.
Phase Two: This will include scripting and interactivity, and the creation
of a database. Phase two will update our site content, add geometry lessons
4-6, and update our book mark list. To increase the power of our Web tools,
we will add database features to our entry. We will fill the database with
bookmarks, geometry problems,geometry question, terms, and definitions.
We will learn how to use CGI scripting to dynamically create Web pages with
these problems in a form layout that will allow student responses. We will
explore methods of retrieving the submitted forms with responses, checking
their work, and sending results back to the student. The second phase is
to add interactivity to our site using JAVA scripts and CGI scripts.
Phase Three: This will consist of testing and debugging of existing content
and work on areas that need attention. This phase will add a new level of
Internet collaboration to our entry. We will make our database of book marks
searchable. To expand collaborations further, we will create a forum and
chat room that will invite users to comment on our work. The commitment
to update our site according to the discussion will be addressed. We will
create procedures and routines that will enable us to review the comments
and discuss and implement suggestions.