Collaborative Development of Java Laboratories for College Algebra and Trigonometry

West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown WV

Investigators

Abstract

The university has been offering pilot sections of college algebra and trigonometry in large sections with a laboratory component. A distance education trigonometry course is also being made available to complement the successful WvEB Algebra course at the university. The use of WvEB Algebra has grown to 300 students, and WvEB trig is expected to serve 200 students at 7 high schools. The courses are taught to the same standard as the on-campus courses, with the active assistance of high school teachers as facilitators, using web based video, laboratories, and on-line quizzing and testing. The project builds on prior work for trigonometry laboratories that utilize results from NSF work at other institutions - Java Sketchpad (NSF awards DMI-9561674 & 9623018) and the Mathematical Java Toolkit (NSF award DMI-9950714). This project is extending and polishing the trigonometry laboratories, and rewriting the college algebra laboratories using Java to give them the same look and feel as the trigonometry laboratories, with the input and active cooperation of facilitators and college faculty at other institutions. The extra structure that these materials provide makes the on campus courses more engaging and serves as appropriate teaching laboratory courses for beginning graduate teaching assistants. The courses are being given for dual credit in high schools and affecting many students at West Virginia University, including elementary education majors. The intellectual merit is that the project uses existing technology to provide a platform-independent set of activities grounded in the practical experience of high school teachers, with common tools integrated. The broader impact includes fostering mathematical development of the teachers serving as facilitators, and encouraging rural Appalachian students to pursue STEM based college degrees.