Leendert van Gastel
CAN Expertise Centre, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Email: gastel@can.nl
In 1995 the first Java Applets were around on the Internet. From the very start of this technology, there have been applets devoted to show mathematics. Think of examples like an animation of a proof of Pythagoras Theorem or interactive display of various fractals.
The goal of this talk is to explore what the impact of these applets can be in higher mathematics education. As university education tends to become more student-centered and IT based, applets may offer a way of realizing this in mathematics. With the recent decline of the number of mathematics students in many European countries in mind, we pay attention especially to the attractiveness and modern appeal of these programs.
Due to the novelty of this technology, the talk will be of an exploratory nature. The main focus is on examples, which are drawn not only from mathematics, but also from chemistry and physics. When looking at the examples, we will focus on the added value from the pedagogical point of view. Apart from the pedagogical issues, we will look at the technology behind Java. What makes it special, why is it a success? Once you have applets, how to make interactive courseware with help of these?
In the long term, we envision a future in mathematics and science education where the distinction between books and computer usage disappear, where experiments in a virtual lab are as common as experiments in a physical lab. Java applets may well be an important step in this direction.
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