MATH TOOLS NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 6, 2003 - No. 9 Last April when we first unveiled Math Tools, resources from Shodor's Project Interactivate and Utah State's National Library of Virtual Manipulatives populated the first course that we opened, Math 7. Recently the Project Interactivate resources have been re-cataloged so that they are aligned, taking all of the courses into consideration. Next month the re-cataloging of Utah State's resources will be complete as well. Over 2300 users are registered Math Tools community members and over 2000 items are in the catalog. We appreciate your interest and participation in Math Tools as we develop this new digital library. ***FEATURED TOOL Rabbits and Wolves Applet Shodor: Project Interactivate http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool.html?id=379 This simulation of population dynamics contains "rabbits," "wolves," and "grass." It keeps track of statistics over time, producing a graph showing cause and effect of the increasing and decreasing populations. The many parameters of the simulation allow you to vary it to discover how your changes affect the overall system over time. ***FEATURED LESSON Reading Graphs Shodor: Project Interactivate http://mathforum.org/mathtools/lesson.html?id=310 This lesson is designed to introduce students to graphing functions and to reading simple functions from graphs. Many of the examples are motivated by a situation described by the graph. ***TOOLS DISCUSSION Math Tools Discussions on Problems of the Week Using Java Applet Technology http://mathforum.org/escot/boone.html A discussion started on Friday, November 21, between Susan Boone, her students, and members of the Math Forum staff. We invite you to try the problems and contribute to the discussion. ***DEVELOPERS AREA DISCUSSION http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?do=m&thread=___disc_1_g Jill Britton requested that someone update the Magic Square Java Applet and George Reese has asked a programmer at MSTE to work on an improved applet. Watch this discussion thread for updates on the progress of this improvement. ***RESEARCH AREA DISCUSSION Participation has begun on the action research project that George Reese presented in the Research Area last month. If you are interested in participating, feel free to join in the discussion. http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?do=r&msg=_____ra-15 CHECK OUT THE MATH TOOLS SITE: Math Tools http://mathforum.org/mathtools/ Register http://mathforum.org/mathtools/register.html Discussions http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html Research Area http://mathforum.org/mathtools/research/ Developers Area http://mathforum.org/mathtools/developers/ Newsletter Archive http://mathforum.org/mathtools/newsletter/ \`. .--------------.____________) \ |//////////////|____________[ ] `--------------' ) ( '-' The Math Forum -- 6 December 2003