Conceptual Learning with Interactive Applets

About this resource

Description

A collection of high-quality web-based applets and supporting resources for enhancing conceptual understanding in undergraduate mathematics and statistics. Our applets are built using GeoGebra. Some applets include notes for instructors and/or online tutorial activities. The applets are categorised by topic area and cover topics including statistics, differential equations, difference equations, limits and continuity, sequences and series, eigenvectors and linear transformations.

Length

Less than 1 hr.

Pedagogical backing

Rationale

Our applets are intended to support visual reasoning (Dreyfus, 1991), as a complement to symbolic reasoning. We believe that visual and symbolic reasoning, married with a narrative, can potentially lead to more complex knowledge structures and consequently, deeper learning. Hence, the applets were designed from the outset to support conversations, in lectures or small-groups, and we envision their use accompanied by a spoken narrative. They are not intended to be used in isolation, nor to be a comprehensive treatment of the concept.

How is the resource used

The applets can be used to help illustrate concepts in a lecture. Lecturers can use them to enhance an a ‘story-telling’ or educational narrative. Students can use them in a tutorial or lab class to explore mathematical and statistical concepts. Lecturers or tutors can use them one-on-one with students in consultation. Students can refer to them again after class if needed.

Student evaluation

All the applets have been used in teaching for several years and have been refined based on experience and feedback from teaching staff. To investigate the impact of the project’s resources on student learning, we surveyed students in several subjects. Students in 5 subject iterations were surveyed, with a total of 263 responses. Of the respondents, 82.9% agreed or strongly agreed that the use of the project’s applets improved their understanding of concepts from the subject.

Authors

Project team: Sharon Gunn, Anthony Morphett (a.morphett@unimelb.edu.au), Robert Maillardet (rjmail@unimelb.edu.au)
Project associates: Liz Bailey, Deb King, Christine Mangelsdorf, Robyn Pearce
Project assistants and contributors: David Diaz, Max Flander, Matthew Mack, Nicholas Read, Sabrina Rodrigues, Shrupa Shah, Simon Villani, David Wakeham