[Maths-Education] Cabri -3D

David Wright david_wright@becta.org.uk
Wed, 7 Feb 2001 15:44:46 -0000


I am interested in finding out more about this, perhaps with a view to an
article in Micromath? (I am editing it from April)
David Wright
Education Officer
Curriculum and Institutional Development
Schools Directorate
Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency)
+44 (0)2476 416994
mobile 07941 456 340


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Malcolm Swan [SMTP:Malcolm.Swan@nottingham.ac.uk]
> Sent:	07 February 2001 13:02
> To:	maths-education@nottingham.ac.uk
> Cc:	Nicholas.Van-labeke@nottingham.ac.uk
> Subject:	[Maths-Education] Cabri -3D
> 
> I am planning to host a seminar to look at Nicolas' work on his new 3D
> software which is based on Cabri. Have a look at the attachment for more
> details. Please could you let me know if you would be interested in
> attending? The date will be fixed to accommodate those who express an
> interest.
> 
> 
> Malcolm Swan
> 
> 
> Working with Calques 3D, a microworld for learning spatial geometry
> 
> I am hoping to contact and work with a small group of mathematics teachers
> and educational researchers who would like to collaborate with me in the
> evaluation of a computer-based environment that I have developed to
> support learning and visualisation in geometry.
> 
> For anyone who is familiar with tools such as Geometer's Sketchpad, or
> Cabri-Geometer, my system (Calques 3D) falls into the same family but is
> special in that it supports visualisation in 3 dimensions. For those who
> are not familiar with this family of learning tools, the main
> characteristics is that they enable both teachers and learners to
> manipulate visual images of geometric figures to see how different actions
> and changes in perspective.
> 
> I developed Calques 3D as part of my Computer Science Ph.D. in France. I
> worked with two teams of secondary school mathematics teachers who helped
> me to design and develop the system. The main objective of this
> collaborative work was to provide the teachers (as final users) with
> software that would fit their needs and their own approaches of teaching
> spatial geometry. As a result, the software is representative of (a part
> of) the French Curriculum and has required some limitation and pruning of
> the spatial geometry domain.
> 
> The teachers used Calques 3D in their classroom, mainly to use it as a
> demonstration or presentation tool by the teacher; Although it is possible
> for students to use the system for guided or free discovery activity, we
> didn't look at this in any detail. Now, I would like to work with
> colleagues to explore how Calques 3D can be adapted for use in UK schools
> and explore pupil's learning in detail. The precise questions to be
> addressed would be defined by the team, but I would like to focus on -
> * About the pedagogical content:
> Do the pedagogical contents of Calques 3D, in its current state, suitable
> with an English educational context? What kind of new
> functionalities/features or improvements does it need in order to fulfil
> the requirements induced by this context? Etc.
> * About the pedagogical use:
> How can Calques 3Dbe integrated in the National Curriculum? What kind of
> activities, that are part of this Curriculum, could you actually manage
> with the software? What kind of activities Calques 3D allows you to manage
> more easily or efficiently? What kind of activities does it allow you to
> manage that, in a way or in another, enlarge the scope of geometry
> teaching? Etc.
> * About the pedagogical outcomes:
> As a computer-based learning environment, how do the students perceive
> Calques 3D? Does the software provide them with a more efficient way of
> learning and understanding spatial geometry? What are the main
> differences, in term of learning, motivation, etc., between such a
> computer-based learning environment and a paper-pencil environment? Etc.
> 
> I would like to organise a meeting where I will demonstrate the software,
> let you play around with it and discuss about the evaluation process and
> how your help would be appreciated.
> -- 
> Malcolm Swan
> School of Education
> Jubilee Campus
> Nottingham
> NG8 1BB
> Tel +44 (0) 115 951 4412


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