Designing Applets

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Designing Applets that Foster Constructivist
Teaching and Learning
Gordon Conference on Visualization in Science and
Education July 18-22, 2003Queens College,
Oxford
Brian Martin The Kings University
College Edmonton, Canada
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What is MAP?

• A six-year project involving collaboration of 3
  post-secondary institutions in the province of
  Alberta (Kings University College, U. of
  Calgary, U. of Alberta) as well as the Ministry
  of Education for the Province of Alberta.
• MAP is intended to provide high quality
  learning, WWW-deliverable objects for the
  teaching of the first 3 terms of university level
  Physics and scalable to meet the needs of most
  high school curricula

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So who are we?...

• Project MAP Executive Directors David Austen,
  Wytze Brouwer, Hans Laue, Brian Martin
• Project Associates Terry Singleton, Peter Wright
• Programmers (MAP_North)
• Nathan Laan, Dave Ooms, Phil Martin, Peter
  Uitvlught, Rob McQuarrie, Tyler Luchko, Mike
  Schuurman, Brian Martin
• FLASH Travis Whyte, Leah Martin
• Content Leah Martin, Nicole Albert, Melody
  Russel, Brian Martin

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A closer look at MAP

• Highly modularized collection of learning
  objects including
• over 150 applets and applications (some current
  applets)(Jeremy Walton version)
• extensive FLASH animation library
• Video and Lab interfacing via JAVA applications
• student tutorial modules
• extensive interactive questions with attention
  paid to conceptual questions as well as numeric
  response
• Objects can be stand-alone or embedded within
  user designed navigation tools

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Some terms

• Learning object a small, concept focused content
  item (applet, Flash animation, QT movie etc)
• Applet small program created in JAVA and
  intended to be transmitted via the web
• Application stand-alone program in JAVA to be
  installed and run locally on a users machine

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Pedagogic Design and Philosophy

• MAP is built on a constructivist learning model
  and all learning objects are designed to
  encourage (demand?) student interactivity
• Concept focused
• Tutorial modules are usually designed to involve
  a pair of students in conversation but can run
  solo

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Classifying Applets by Function

• Address pre-conceptions
• Augment student experience
• Bridge the transition from conceptual to
  quantitative
• Aid in the visualization of complex phenomena

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Designing Applets which Address Pre-conceptions

• they are designed to address a well-known
  preconception (i.e. one identified in the
  research literature)
• they are entirely qualitative in both input and
  output
• they allow the student to draw directly on the
  applet the expected outcome and then to compare
  this with the correct result simulated by the
  computer
• the applets are designed to be attractive and
  non-intimidating

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Conceptual Applets...
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Applets that augmentstudent experience...

• 2-Dimensional Motion (vectoral nature of
  acceleration and velocity)
• Encourages interaction or playwith the ideas
  of velocity and acceleration

• "This gadget really helps visualize it!"
• "I can see it happening."
• "It was nice to see the ball moving so we can
  picture the skateboarder or whatever we are
  looking at"
• " good assignment "
• "The assignment was good, but it would be better
  if it did not take 10 minutes to get into the
  program. I could probably do it from home much
  faster"
• "It would have been okay, except for the problems
  with the computer"
• "This program is interesting, but not for a very
  long time"
• "I thought learning this way was extremely
  difficult and hard to understand. I prefer note
  taking and chances to ask you questions when they
  arise."
• "I'm not good with the computer - too slow of a
  connection"
• "This was awesome and fun"

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Applets that Bridge the Transition from
Conceptual to Quantitative

• Circuit Builder

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Applets that Bridge the Transition from
Conceptual to Quantitative

• The Incline
• Visualization of force vectors
• Graphical visualization tools
• Can stimulate what if questions

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Applets that Bridge the Transition from
Conceptual to Quantitative

• Man on the Ladder

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Applets that Bridge the Transition from
Conceptual to Quantitative

• Atwoods Pulley

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Applets that Help the Student Visualize Complex
Phenomena

• Sonic Booms

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Applets that Help the Student Visualize Complex
Phenomena

• Car on a banked roadway

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Applets that Help the Student Visualize Complex
Phenomena

• Ripple Tank

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Applets that Help the Student Visualize Complex
Phenomena

• Slit-Diffraction

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Applets that Help the Student Visualize Complex
Phenomena

• Thin Film Interference

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Does MAP Work?

• Efficacy of MAP materials in improving conceptual
  understanding and affecting attitude was the
  principal burden of Dr Guoqiang Zhous doctoral
  work (2001) in The Department of Secondary
  Education, University of Alberta
• Currently 2 graduate students are studying the
  problem of teacher implementation of MAP and
  student receptivity to MAP
• Force Concept Inventory Test or FCI (Hestenes et
  al 1992, Mazur, 1997) has been administered to 7
  first year classes at the U. Alberta (n 600)
  divided as 4 control groups and 3 treatment
  groups. All three treatment groups demonstrated
  a statistically significant improvement in
  performance on FCI post-tests compared to their
  control group counterparts.

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Does MAP Work?

• Teacher training is essential!
• MAP materials do not appear to be effective in
  changing student attitudes about physics as a
  discipline.

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New Directions for MAP

• Applets incorporating Video and Simulation
• Further Development of VideoLab
• Extensive teacher in-servicing.
• Participation in a cross-cultural study
• Develop a national (Canadian) centre

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Technical Info...

• Applets run under JAVA 1.4.n- Sun Plugin (PC,
  LINUX) or OS X (Mac)
• Require JMF 2.1.1 (PC and LINUX only) for
  VideoLab
• Applet design makes extensive use of libraries
  (approx. 1 Meg initial download, individual
  applets typically 50K - 100 K)
• Applets are signed using THAWTE certificates and
  can access required peripherals (printers, files
  etc)

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brian.martin_at_kingsu.ca
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Basic Constructivist Tenets

• Successful science teaching must develop
  strategies and tools that acknowledge the
  existence of powerful, preexistent frameworks of
  ideas which students bring to bear on the ideas
  that we teach
• Constructivist teaching provides students with
  sufficient experiences to interact with their
  held beliefs and to enable students to construct
  their own understandings of concepts and ideas.