Critical Issue:
Locating, Using, and Integrating Internet-Based Mathematics Materials

ISSUE: The Internet contains vast amounts of valuable and motivating mathematics resources for K-12 educators and students. However, educators often have difficulty locating, accessing, and meaningfully integrating these materials into their schools' mathematics curricula and using the materials in instructionally appropriate ways.

OVERVIEW: Recent research on learning indicates that technology can play a critical role in changing classroom environments and restructuring schools to promote more engaged and powerful learning. Indeed, some evidence suggests that technology may even accelerate the restructuring process, especially if it focuses on using learning resources outside the classroom (Pisapla, Schlessinger, & Parks, 1993; Jones, Valdez, Nowakowski, & Rasmussen, 1994). Thus, the Internet is an important tool both for school restructuring and promoting engaged learning. The Internet provides educators with access to many mathematics resources beyond the boundaries of their classrooms and offers them opportunities to integrate technology into mathematics lessons. By using the Internet, teachers can motivate students to learn while preparing them for work outside of school.

Luis Garcia, student at Kelly High School in Chicago, Illinois, talks about how using the Internet enabled him to obtain a summer internship at AT&T in Lisle, Illinois. Excerpted from Learning With Technology: Merging Onto the Information Highway, produced by NCREL in 1994. (QuickTime slide show with audio, 298K)

• Video
• Video with captions (audio description available)
• Text transcript (fastest download)

Dr. Offie Hobbs, principal at Madison Middle School 2000, discusses bringing the Internet and computers into the academic playing field. Excerpted from Learning With Technology: Merging Onto the Information Highway, produced by NCREL in 1994. (Audio comment, 264K) A text transcript is available.

However, the size, complexity, and technical language of the Internet often discourage people from using Internet resources in depth. Others have difficulty finding a way to connect. To make the job easier, several agencies have been created that help schools and districts connect to the Internet. Once connected, educators can access software and other search tools that will help them locate and use Internet resources.

GOALS: Educators and students will be able to:

• Locate and access high quality mathematics and other educational materials on the Internet.
• Identify, use, and integrate high quality mathematics and other educational materials to further their learning.
• Use their knowledge of the Internet and its resources to become efficient and effective creators of knowledge.

ACTION OPTIONS: To increase the success of Internet use, educators should consider the following actions:

• Create a clear vision of why and how the technology inherent in the Internet will be used to improve learning and restructure schools.


Alda Hanna, teacher at Steele Elementary School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, talks about how being connected to the Internet has changed the way she teaches. Excerpted from Learning With Technology: Merging Onto the Information Highway, produced by NCREL in 1994. (QuickTime slide show with audio, 349K).

• Video
• Video with captions (audio description available)
• Text transcript (fastest download)


Barb Spitz, Technology/Resource Director at Madison Middle School 2000 in Madison, Wisconsin, talks about how she is able to provide a wide range of resources for her students using the Internet. Excerpted from Learning With Technology: Merging Onto the Information Highway, produced by NCREL in 1994. (Audio comment, 272K) A text transcript is available.


Matt Weinbaum, student at Model High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, explains that his school is structured differently because it focuses on group-oriented work. He also explains how the Internet plays a part in the school's collaborative work. Excerpted from Learning With Technology: Merging Onto the Information Highway, produced by NCREL in 1994. (Audio comment, 272K) A text transcript is available.

• Provide professional development for teachers that includes both technological and pedagogical support.

• Ensure that the Internet does not increase educational inequities. Because of its complexity and cost, the Internet could bypass urban and rural areas that would greatly benefit from its resources. We can not allow such factors to create resource-rich and resource-poor populations.

  
  John Ruskamp, executive assistant principal at Kelly High School in Chicago, Illinois, discusses how the Internet has made his students, who come from an inner-city environment, competitive for the job market and college entrance. Excerpted from Learning With Technology: Merging Onto the Information Highway, produced by NCREL in 1994. (Slide show with audio, 698K) A text transcript is available.

  
  Alda Hanna, teacher at Steele Elementary School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, talks about the necessity of preparing her students for a technological world, and how the Internet helps her to reach this goal. Excerpted from Learning With Technology: Merging Onto the Information Highway, produced by NCREL in 1994. (Audio comment, 298K) A text transcript is available.

• Expose students, teachers, administrators, and parents to the exceptional learning opportunities that are available on the Internet. For a list of math resources on the Internet, see the Illustrative Cases below.

IMPLEMENTATION PITFALLS: Some implementation pitfalls relate to the use of specific materials:

• Materials that do not reflect good mathematics instruction
• Materials that are irrelevant or inappropriate for the curriculum being taught
• Materials that are excessively expensive when analyzed against their potential to improve learning

Other implementation pitfalls relate to technology and software:

• To use the Internet effectively, schools need good telephone connections, fast modems (at least 9600 baud), and 386SX computers with 8M of RAM.
• Some of the best technology-based materials are so popular that they are difficult to access during school hours.
• To find resources on the Internet, users must know about and successfully use search engines, such as LYCOS, Web Nomad, and WebCrawler. It also helps to know about specific resource collections by topic, such as those noted in the Illustrative Cases below.
• Unlike most materials on the Internet, many K-12 resource require specific software. For instance, most of the EXPLORER materials are now in the Acrobat PDF format and are readable on Mac, Windows, and Unix machines. There is a free Acrobat reader available for these machines from Adobe. After downloading the Acrobat reader you will need to configure your browser to use it.

DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW: Critics of Internet-based mathematics materials usually focus on software that presents mathematics content in an inappropriate, inaccurate, or over-promising way. Indeed, earlier mathematics software often called for "drill and practice" and, as a result, had limited success in classrooms. Many mathematics teachers - who were trailblazers in the use of computers in the classroom - also were turned off by the "arcade-like" design of many programs.

Other critics focus on issues of funding and access. Because of the expense and problems of access associated with the Internet, many mathematics teachers argue that tools such as graphing calculators are a better use of limited funds. Teachers also fear that budget cutters will use oversold promises of Internet materials to justify increasing class sizes and reducing instructional materials budgets. Other teachers, who are satisfied with current methods, are afraid of using instructional tools that students may be more proficient at using than they are. Some teachers and parents are concerned about Internet use in the classroom because they believe students will have access to files containing material that may be inappropriate for them to view. Some schools and other groups have developed Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) , voluntary guidelines designed to ensure the safe and appropriate use of the Internet. The federal government has been considering legislation to limit the kinds of information that can be placed on the Internet. Legislative and other current methods being discussed to limit Internet access are reviewed in Internet Parental Control Frequently Asked Questions.

Many critics of "K-12 use of the Internet" claim that it is a fad that will be followed by a rapid decrease in interest when educators find that the Internet does not increase learning.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES: The organizations listed below maintain Internet "sites" that house quality mathematics materials. To access these sites, double click on the active text. (Note: many of the sites have heavy traffic during school hours and may not be available on the first try.) This list will be updated regularly. Please send suggestions to valdez@ncrel.org

The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) at http://enc.org has a WWW-based search capacity and provides detailed descriptions through easy-to-use interfaces, such as Mosaic, Netscape, and Air Mosaic.

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) at http://ericir.syr.edu is a federally funded national information system that provides bibliographic information, abstracts of educational documents, and lesson plans by subject and grade level. Their "AskERIC Lesson Plans" http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/index.shtml#Search are a gateway to teacher-created materials and curriculum resources from various locations, including CNN, Newton's Apple, and the Discovery Channel. AskERIC (askeric@ericir.syr.edu) is an Internet-based question-answer service for teachers, library media specialists, and administrators.

Explorer at http://explorer.scrtec.org/explorer.html is an R&D effort designed to deliver math and science lesson plans and activities to K-12 educators and students. (Note: many of the activities require Claris Works or other software.)

Galaxy Mathematics List at http://galaxy.einet.net/galaxy/Science/Mathematics.html links users to resources in algebra, applied math, calculus, geometry, number theory, statistics, topology, and vector analysis. It also links to many commercial locations and has a selective list of connections to valuable sites for math resources.

Math Forum at http://forum.swarthmore.edu/ is a good location to learn about math newsgroups and materials.

Internet Resources for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/EducaHome.html links to exceptional resources on Internet use, Listservs about networking in education, networking legislation, and publications and reports about the Internet.

Kids Web - A World Wide Web Digital Library for School Kids at http://www.npac.syr.edu/textbook/kidsweb/ is an exceptional server that links to excellent resources for K-12 students. While rich in science and social studies materials, it has limited math resources. However, the site is useful for demonstrating cutting-edge uses of the Internet.

Mathematics - Florida State University at http://euclid.math.fsu.edu/Science/math.html is one of the most attractive and easy-to-use locations. It includes the following topics: specialized fields, mathematics department web servers, general resources, mathematical software index, mathematics gophers, mathematics newsgroups, preprints, electronic journals, high school servers, addresses, bibliographies, and text archives.

Mathematics Information Servers at http://www.math.psu.edu/MathLists/Contents.html is a mega-list of math-related links. It has hundreds of active text links to servers around the world with math resources and many links to math software resources. Its country-by-country listings make it especially useful for locating math-related organizations and accessing international servers. The site also has many links to math journals and preprints.

Mathematics Resources on WWW and the Internet - University of Wisconsin at http://mthwww.uwc.edu/wwwmahes/files/math01.htm is a comprehensive and frequently updated catalog. The catalog lists general math WWW servers in the U.S., general math WWW servers in other countries, pure mathematics, applied mathematics, math teaching and education statistics, mathematics gophers, mathematics discussion groups, mathematics newsletters and announcements, mathematics newsgroups, mathematics software, books and publications, mathematical art and graphics, and miscellaneous servers in mathematics.

MathMagic at http://forum.swarthmore.edu/mathmagic is a K-12 telecommunications project that motivates students to use computer technology while gaining problem-solving strategies and communication skill. MathMagic posts challenges in each of four categories (K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12). Registered teams pair up to engage in a problem-solving dialogue.

MidContinent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) at http://www.mcrel.org is home to the Eisenhower High Plains Consortium for Mathematics and Science and the Standards and Benchmarks Database. This database provides extensive analysis, histories, and references for educational standards and benchmarks.

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) at http://www.ncrel.org is home to the Pathways system you are using and provides links to numerous math and science resources. NCREL operates the Eisenhower Midwest Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education.

North Eastern Regional Alliance at http://ra.terc.edu/alliance/HubHome.html is developing Internet-accessible math and science materials.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) at http://www.nwrel.org has several math and science resources, including the Alterative Assessment in Science and Mathematics Database. NWREL operates an Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Consortium.

Research for Better Schools (RBS) at http://www.rbs.org/index.html operates the Mid-Atlantic Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Consortium. The Consortium has many math and science resources, including the Promising Practices in Mathematics and Science Education database and several assessment databases.

Special Internet Connections - Scott Yanoff at http://sirius.we.lc.ehu.es/internet/inet.services.html is a good place to get an overview of the materials available on the Internet. This comprehensive listing of Internet resources includes nearly every topic, but its large size requires some time to download.

The University of Minnesota's Geometry Center at http://www.geom.umn.edu/ has the best concentration of geometry materials on the Internet. In addition to print information on geometry topics, the site has pictures, multimedia, movies, and a directory of geometry links. The Geometry Center also has software that can be downloaded, interactive web applications, and tools to create three-dimensional images.

U.S. Department of Education at http://www.ed.gov/ has excellent links under "Other Resources." It also has many official education documents and listings of programs, resources, grants, contracts, and fellowships that are available from federal institutions or other federally funded agencies. While you're there, check out "A Teacher's Guide to the U.S. Department of Education."

WWW Virtual Library at http://vlib.org" is a catalog of Internet resources from all over the world that can be searched in a variety of ways. Listings range from the most popular or newest material on the Internet to the Library of Congress classifications.

CONTACTS:

Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education, The Ohio State University, 1929 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1079, 614-292-7784, Fax: 614-292-2066, e-mail: info@ENC.org

High Plains Consortium for Mathematics and Science, MidContinent Regional Educational Laboratory, 2550 S. Parker Rd., Suite 500, Aurora, CO 80014, 303-337-0990, Fax: 303-337-3005

Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Mathematics and Science Educational, Research for Better Schools, 444 N. Third Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123, 215-574-9300, Fax: 215-574-0133

Midwest Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1120 Diehl Road, Suite 200, Naperville, IL 60563-1486, (630) 649-6500, fax (630) 649-7600, E-mail: info@ncrel.org

Northwest Consortium for Mathematics and Science Teaching, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 101 S.W. Main St., Suite 500, Portland, OR 97204, 503-275-9500, Fax: 503-275-9489

References

This Critical Issue summary was researched and written by Gilbert Valdez, director of outreach and technology at North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and director of the Midwest Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education.

Date posted: 1995