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Finding Answers on the Math Forum site

In class today, you will work with a partner to investigate three major services on the Math Forum site. I will present a brief history of each in class and you will use the services to see what you can find. By the end of class you and your partner should send me an email (or document) in which you respond to the questions in each section below. You do not need to answer every question, but rather write a reaction to what you find on the site, ask questions, make judgements, compare these services to other things you've found on the Web (about math or not about math).

Ask Dr. Math: http://mathforum.org/dr.math/

Think of a math subject you learned (long ago, recently, currently) that contained something that you or a friend of yours found to be particularly challenging. (Rather than "trigonometry in general", go with a specific topic like "the unit circle".)

Go to Ask Dr. Math and see if you can find information about the topic or problem that would help someone understand it better. Try many paths: use the FAQ, browse the library, or search. Also, see if you can find something on the same topic that is not as helpful.

1. How easy is it to find the information you are looking for?
2. What made one answer more helpful than another? Can you think of another purpose to use the less helpful explanation?
3. What do you notice about the way the math doctors write answers?
4. What else do you notice? Would you use this service or recommend it to anyone?

Teacher2Teacher: http://mathforum.org/t2t/

The T2T archive (the TeacherŐs Lounge) is much smaller than the Ask Dr. Math library and it's meant for teachers, not students.

1. Can you find teaching tips on the topic you were looking for in the Dr. Math area?
2. What do you notice about the T2T archives thatŐs different from or similar to Ask Dr. Math?
3. Imagine that you are a teacher (anywhere from K-12). What kinds of questions do you think math teachers have about teaching?

Public Discussions: http://mathforum.org/discussions/

1. Browse through some discussions to see if you can find one that might be an appropriate place to locate information about your topic.
2. Search all discussions (use the link on the page to search all epigone discussions) for your topic.
3. How does the information found here compare to what you found elsewhere on the site?