Rapid developments in technology have resulted in major changes in society, both in what is done and how it is done. Educators need to be challenged, to sense the excitement and opportunity of the digital age and to be exposed to visions of what may be possible. Educational technology, more specifically virtual reality, holds great promise in the quest of enhanced learning. As visual images, texts and sounds circulate in cyberspace, we may expect a thorough exteriorization of knowledge and a dramatic transformation in curricula and in instructional processes. By integrating html, vrml and java script into the environment many students can actively inhabit an inclusive computer-generated environment. The presentation will include a prototype of a virtual environment designed to have students interact with basic calculus concepts such as rotation of solids, and centre of gravity. This assimilation, transforming previously abstract mathematical concepts into dynamic and manipulable objects , will give students an opportunity to create a firm foundation for further discovery and experiential learning.
In the realm of education, technology offers educators the opportunity to move away from instructional strategies that focus on presentation of abstract information to the passive learner to an active process in which meaning is developed on the basis of experience. In the constructivist view, the learner is building an internal representation of knowledge and a personal interpretation of experience. No meaningful construction nor authentic activity is possible if all relevant information is pre specified. What is meaningful is the development of learning environments which encourage construction of understanding multiple perspectives. This is in contrast to the typical school environment where the goal is to transfer knowledge to the learner in the most efficient, effective manner possible. The mind does not "process" information, it constructs it based upon past experience and ongoing interactions in the world. In school we are generally taught what to think rather than how to think. Instruction does not cause learning!
Creativity or the building of thought patterns is the ability to use visual or previous experience to solve problems never encountered before. Integration of technology into the calculus curriculum has totally changed what and how we teach. Previously, math had become a series of templates and algorithms with very little relevance to the world outside of school or in the advancement of higher order thinking skills. With our rapidly changing society, it is essential that educators empower students to be life long learners; aiding them in knowledge building, and encouraging collaborative work. Inclusion of interactive math labs, graphing calculators, and multimedia animation's have all been towards this goal of visualization and knowledge building.
Virtual reality, an environment created by the computer in which the user
feels present, is an emerging computer-based technology that offers
promise as a learning tool. It is a medium for communication and creative
expression as well as a tool for simulation and model building. Because
virtual reality emphasizes multisensory, multidimensional
information-presentations, it offers a wider range of representational and
presentation tools, bridging many disciplines and providing a more powerful
synergistic learning tool. A virtual learning environment designed to have
students interact with basic calculus concepts will help facilitate
understanding, transferability and knowledge building. This
assimilation, transforming previously abstract mathematical concepts into
dynamic and manipulable objects , will give students an opportunity to
create a firm foundation for further discovery and experiential learning in
calculus. The difficulty will be that the students will have to override
the learned experience of using algorithms or memorized patterns and trust
in their knowledge building skills.
The 'Cyberspace Calculus Carnival' is truly the bare foundation for future
work. The first pavilion, The HoloMirrors, is a virtual reality
environment filled with two dimensional graphs, axis, and solids of
rotation. This prototype will give students the opportunity to
'experience' not only the newly formed shapes but the concept of volume
found by filling them with disks, shells or washers.
Technology cannot effortlessly transform education. "It is clear the
technology in and of itself is not a magic remedy for current failures in
educational effectiveness." [Herman, 1994] The Futurist, David Thornburg,
addresses this issue in his book entitled Edutrends 2010. "How do we plan
for the future when technology is advancing by leaps and bounds? Our
answer to this question is that we first identify the solid curricular and
pedagogical ideas that we believe in..." [Thornburg, 1992] It is from this
vantage point, that I view Virtual Reality's contribution to mathematics
education. It allows the students to go beyond 'book knowledge' and
actually develop a feel for advanced mathematical concepts and
"As virtual reality evolves in its ability to comprehensively engage a user in an immersive reality embedded with valuable lessons, it will help to build a new means of learning by which humans and technology are optimized according to the nature of the lesson and the type of learning to be realized. As an ultimate learning technology, virtual reality will also serve to help redefine the role of educators." [Traub, 1992, p.10]
Virtual reality environments may make it possible to discover more about the very process of learning. However educators must participate in its development so as to guide the growth of the technology and perhaps influence the course of educational change. How do we as educators harness this powerful new technology to support learning?