Learning and using mathematics software the natural way

AbstractWe motivate the need for more standard while natural ways of accessing the growing number of internet applications of mathematics software. We then identify a subset of natural language appropriate for this task, and describe an efficient logic programming transformation from this subset of language into the desired commands. We use substructural logic for dealing with different kinds of mathematical anaphora. We exemplify our ideas in the context of Maple, an advanced mathematics software for symbolic computing

Reading and writing mathematical notation in e-learning environments

How do students and teachers communicate mathematics via the internet? Why do they use these methods? Is there any better way of communicating mathematics via the internet? In addition to the time needed to understand a concept, it is also a challenge for students to write formulae in e-learning environments, since most computers and software are not designed to write formulae. Furthermore, most physics, mathematics and engineering students do most of all their initial analysis and calculations using pen and paper and then have to translate it into a computer environment. Does this extra time investment play a role in the academic results achieved?This paper presents exploratory research into the different methods used by teachers and students to communicate mathematics via the internet and to use appropriate patterns according to the different subjects and knowledge areas. It explores the reasons that make students choose one method or another and analyses the extreme case: when students write mathematical formulae on paper and then scan this electronically.The analysis is carried out on engineering subjects at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in which mathematics plays an important role: 17,000 emails are analysed and five physics teachers are interviewed as part of a qualitative study about handwritten scanned exercises.This paper shows that the key to explaining students' behaviour is the time factor. In order to reduce the time required to write the required mathematical formulae, the paper proposes a speech-to-text tool, such as TalkMaths, to help students create and edit mathematical formulae, since speech is the fastest and most natural way of communicating

Learning by Seeing by Doing: Arithmetic Word Problems

Learning by doing in pursuit of real-world goals has received much attention from education researchers but has been unevenly supported by mathematics education software at the elementary level, particularly as it involves arithmetic word problems. In this article, we give examples of doing-oriented tools that might promote children\u27s ability to see significant abstract structures in mathematical situations. The reflection necessary for such seeing is motivated by activities and contexts that emphasize affective and social aspects. Natural language, as a representation already familiar to children, is key in these activities, both as a means of mathematical expression and as a link between situations and various abstract representations. These tools support children\u27s ownership of a mathematical problem and its expression; remote sharing of problems and data; software interpretation of children\u27s own word problems; play with dynamically linked representations with attention to children\u27s prior connections; and systematic problem variation based on empirically determined level of difficulty

Is what you see what you get? representations, metaphors and tools in mathematics didactics

This paper is exploratory in character. The aim is to investigate ways in which it is possible to use the theoretical concepts of representations, tools and metaphors to try to understand what learners of mathematics ‘see’ during classroom interactions (in their widest sense) and what they might get from such interactions. Through an analysis of a brief classroom episode, the suggestion is made that what learners see may not be the same as what they get. From each of several theoretical perspectives utilised in this paper, what learners ‘get’ appears to be something extra. According to our analysis, this something ‘extra’ is likely to depend on the form of technology being used and the representations and metaphors that are available to both teacher and learner

Functional Skills Support Programme: Developing functional skills in geography

This booklet is part of "... a series of 11 booklets which helps schools to implement functional skills across the curriculum. The booklets illustrate how functional skills can be applied and developed in different subjects and contexts, supporting achievement at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. Each booklet contains an introduction to functional skills for subject teachers, three practical planning examples with links to related websites and resources, a process for planning and a list of additional resources to support the teaching and learning of functional skills." - The National Strategies website

Introduction to location-based mobile learning

[About the book] The report follows on from a 2-day workshop funded by the STELLAR Network of Excellence as part of their 2009 Alpine Rendez-Vous workshop series and is edited by Elizabeth Brown with a foreword from Mike Sharples. Contributors have provided examples of innovative and exciting research projects and practical applications for mobile learning in a location-sensitive setting, including the sharing of good practice and the key findings that have resulted from this work. There is also a debate about whether location-based and contextual learning results in shallower learning strategies and a section detailing the future challenges for location-based learning