An Interactive Online Calculus Text

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An Interactive Online Calculus Text
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Background Project CALC

• Calculus As a Laboratory Course
• Funded by NSF, 1988-1995
• First edition textbook/lab materials published by
  Houghton Mifflin (D. C. Heath), 1996
• Online lab modules developed as the Connected
  Curriculum Project, 1993-2001
• 1990s materials still in use at some colleges

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Project CALC Features

• laboratory experiments
• discovery learning
• real-world applications
• writing and revision of writing
• high expectations of students
• emphasis on students checking their own work

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Project CALC End Goals

• Students who complete the Project CALC sequence
  should be able to
• use mathematics to structure their understanding
  of and investigate questions in the world around
  them,
• use calculus to formulate problems, to solve
  problems, and to communicate their solutions of
  problems to others,
• use technology as an integral part of this
  process of formulation, solution, and
  communication,
• work and learn cooperatively.

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Project CALC In-Course Goals

• Students in the Project CALC sequence should be
  able to
• understand concepts rather than merely mimic
  techniques
• demonstrate understanding by explaining in
  written or oral form the meanings and important
  applications of concepts
• construct and analyze mathematical models of
  real-world phenomena, including both discrete and
  continuous models
• distinguish between discrete and continuous
  models and make judgments about the
  appropriateness of the choice for a given
  problem
• understand the relationship between a process and
  the corresponding inverse process
• select between formal and approximate methods for
  solution of a problem and make judgments about
  the appropriateness of the choice
• select the proper tool or tools for the task at
  hand.

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The Second Edition

• Our desires
• Make the text flexible, hyperlinked, interactive,
  richly illustrated, and available at low cost
• Demonstrate feasibility of an online text
• Support NSF Grant No. 0231083 to MAA for the
  Online Books Project
• First step Redesign and redevelop the textbook
  entirely online

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MathDL Online Books Project

• Calculus Modeling and Application by David
  Smith and Lang Moore
• Mathematical Modeling by Frank Wattenberg and
  USMA colleagues
• A Radical Approach to Real Analysis  (two sample
  chapters) by David Bressoud

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Issues

• Navigation
• Directory and file structure
• Design
• Illustrations
• Interactivity
• Technical requirements
• Presentation of mathematics

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Presentation of Mathematics

• XHTML files for main body of text
• HTML files for front page, tables of contents,
  pop-ups
• MathML formulas, created by WebEQ, in main pages
  (mostly displayed formulas)
• asciiMathML formulas in pop-ups and in main pages
  (mostly inline formulas)
• Flash applets and Maple, Mathcad, and Mathematica
  CAS files for interactions

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Sample Pages

• Front Page
• Chapter openers - About this Chapter (2.0)
• Chapter Tables of Contents (Ch. 4)
• Text pages (4.4.1)
• Activity including Flash applet (2.4.3)
• Activity including CAS files (6.2.1)

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Sample Pages

• Checkpoints (6.1.2)
• Exercises (5.1)
• WeBWorK Exercises (4.5)
• Making connections (6.3.4)
• Chapter Summary (Ch. 3)
• Projects (Ch. 4)
• Projects (Ch. 7)

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Classroom Test Sites Wanted
Class tested at Hood College, 2006-2008
Consider being a class tester starting in Fall
2008 Contact us das_at_ or lang_at_math.duke.edu During
the workshop, you can also use direct messaging
to moderators.
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Project CALC Awards
Also named A Program That Works by Project
Kaleidoscope, 1993
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An Interactive Online Calculus Text