Toward a Semiotic Framework for Using Technology in Mathematics Education: The Case of Learning 3D Geometry

This paper proposes and examines a semiotic framework to inform the use of technology in mathematics education. Semiotics asserts that all cognition is irreducibly triadic, of the nature of a sign, fallible, and thoroughly immersed in a continuing process of interpretation (Halton, 1992). Mathematical meaning-making or meaningful knowledge construction is a continuing process of interpretation within multiple semiotic resources including typological, topological, and social-actional resources. Based on this semiotic framework, an application named VRMath has been developed to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry. VRMath utilises innovative virtual reality (VR) technology and integrates many semiotic resources to form a virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) as well as a mathematical microworld (Edwards, 1995) for learning 3D geometry. The semiotic framework and VRMath are both now being evaluated and will be re-examined continuously

Getting the message across : ten principles for web animation

The growing use of animation in Web pages testifies to the increasing ease with which such multimedia components can be created. This trend indicates a commitment to animation that is often unmatched by the skill of the implementers. The present paper details a set of ten commandments for web animation, intending to sensitise budding animators to key aspects that may impair the communicational effectiveness of their animation. These guidelines are drawn from an extensive literature survey coloured by personal experience of using Web animation packages. Our ten principles are further elucidated by a Web-based on-line tutorial

Knowledge Construction of 3D Geometry Concepts and Processes Within a Virtual Reality Learning Environment

A consensus has emerged within the mathematics education community about the limitations of traditional approaches for teaching and learning 3D geometry. Therefore, it has been suggested that new approaches based on the use of computers need to be adopted. One such new approach that has been proposed utilises Virtual Reality Learning Environment (VRLE). This paper reports on the initial phases of a research study whose major aim is to design and evaluate a VRLE to facilitate the construction of knowledge about 3D geometry concepts and processes. This research study investigates two primary school students’ construction of 3D geometry knowledge whilst engaged within a VRLE developed by the researcher. A design experiments research methodology was employed in this study. This is research that iterates through cycles of design and research with the objective of arriving at theoretical and design principles that will have application both within and beyond the immediate research study. Therefore, the results being reported in this paper will be used to inform the modification not only of the VRLE but also of theoretical frameworks underlying the design and implementation of VRLEs

COMMODITY FETISHISMS IN COSMETIC ADVERTISEMENTS IN INDONESIA

The objectives of this research entitled “Commodity Fetishism in Cosmetic Advertisement in Indonesia” were to find out how the phenomena of commodity fetishism appear in cosmetic advertisement in Indonesia and how consumers’ responses toward the phenomena of commodity fetishism. The research method was qualitative-interpretative method using text-analysis. The instrument of this research was the writer herself. The data samples of this research were the cosmetic advertisements; those were facial foam and whitening/lightening cream advertisements from some common brands in Indonesia. Based on the data analysis there were some phenomena of commodity fetishism appear in cosmetics advertisement which marked by the appearance of models, male or female who had white skin, flawless, spotless and no acnes. It seemed that was the result of the usage the product. Then the phenomenon also marked by using some hyperbolic texts, for example “ganteng maksimal”, “see results in 7 days or your money back”, “tampil terbaik”, “putih cerah hingga 3 tingkat” dan “komplit cerahnya”. The results of the interview showed that the responses from the respondents dominated by the lack of consumers’ credibility towards the products compared with the appearances in the advertisements. It could be concluded that the phenomena of commodity fetishism in cosmetics advertisements had a big impacts towards the people as the consumers and the viewers

Building a Socio-technical Perspective of Community Resilience with a Semiotic Approach

Situated in the diversity and adversity of real-life contexts facing crisis situations, this research aims at boosting the resilience process within communities supported by digital and social technology. In this paper, eight community leaders in different parts of the world are invited to express their issues and wishes regarding the support of technology to face social challenges. Methods and artefacts based on the Organisational Semiotics (OS) and the Socially-Aware computing have been applied to analyse and consolidate this data. By providing both a systemic view of the problem and also leading to the identification of requirements, the analysis evidences some benefits of the OS-based approach to consolidate perspectives from different real-life scenarios towards building a socio-technical solution

Telling the market story through organic information interaction design and broadcast media : submitted to the College of Creative Arts as requirement for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, 2007

Interaction Design, which is essentially story-creating and telling, is at once both and ancient art and a new technology. Media have always effected the telling of stories and the creation of experiences. (Shedroff, N., 1994, p. 2) Advances with visual representations within broadcast design have been applied to areas such as weather simulations, sporting events, and historical reconstruction's. However, financial market information presentation is fairly uniform in television news broadcasting, showing little progression in pace with other news information catego­ries. While stock market news segments make limited use of supporting graphics, addi­ tional information that may assist the viewer is filtered out, effecting viewers interest, understanding and decision making process often associated with market related stories. Research to date has been limited to single visualisations. There has been little re­search into the use of multiple information views that are composed to support news presentations. People use many different information sources on a daily basis. News sources are used to stay informed about events, to some sources, viewer evaluation of informa­tion is a part of that process. News information and other data commodity sources are now more accessible, allowing designers to look at ways of transforming them into new or improved information services. This research explores the display of stock market information by looking at ap­propriate media delivery methods combined with Organic Information Interaction Design to enhance information relationships. Organic Design and Information Inter­action Design 1 principles are combined. This denotes a 'living' relationship between elements, incorporating hierarchy principles with enhanced information delivery and user experiences. Four themes are tied together through the use of a conceptual prototype. [FROM INTRO

The use of visual strategies by educators at tertiary level and its influence on student teachers' development of mathematical concepts.

Masters Degree, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Abstract available in pdf

Generating Narrative Spaces from Events History

For a successful distributed teamwork it is vital to provide team-members with awareness on collaborative activities. One way of achieving this is through applying a narrative based approach to construct the events that have taken place on documents and folders in a project workspace, as various members make changes to its content. The research presented in this paper investigates the possibility of exploring the history of activities performed by team members. Past events are aggregated in the form of a three dimensional environment time tunnel, providing the team-members with a generative tool to visualize the project?s events history in various configurations, in order to reveal the usually hidden relationships between separate pieces of events. Furthermore we provide a tool for managing and inspecting the folder?s contents: the DocuDrama Timetunnel. Here we present preliminary findings showing how the visualisation of a sequence of connected actions and happenings using a temporal and spatial narrative based approach may lead to a better understanding of the project-related events history

Some thoughts on the importance of open source and open access for emerging digital scholarship

Both the open source and the open access movements have their roots in the ‘hard’ sciences rather than in the social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). They have been concerned, traditionally, with open access to source code for computational data processing and with open access to scienti?c information published as journal articles. Still, the basic assumption of the present contribution is that there is a specific open source and open access agenda within the SSH and that this may affect these disciplines—once such an agenda is fully in place — in a way hardly conceivable in the ‘hard’ sciences. However, understanding the full impact and potential of such approaches in the SSH requires reflection upon broader methodological issues. Two vectors or primary oppositions are of specific interest in this respect: the scholarly information continuum as a whole and its evolution from print based to electronic working paradigms and the revolutionary changes that can be foreseen as a consequence the speci?c difference of the SSH as opposed to the Science-TechnologyMedicine (STM) culture of relating signi?ers to signi?cates and the specific impact of the digital revolution resulting from this specific difference. Exploring these two vectors this contribution will try to indicate constituent elements of an ‘open’ agenda for the digital humanities