Created at Tartan Hacks, Carnegie Mellon University 2015 Laura Fulton, Aaron Paczak, Jenna Cario http://calcwithcubie.azurewebsites.net
Cubie the Calc Cube
Calc with Cubie is an interactive, storytelling web-app that helps calculus students gain a better visual understanding of volume graphs that are rotated about a linear axis. Calc with Cubie’s focus is to improve understanding by making the learning process interactive and fun.
In our scenario, Cubie the Calculus Cube is really good at math, but encounters difficulty when envisioning beyond the x-y coordinate plane. With the help of Cubie’s friend, Mr. Tartan, students are taught the basics of volume by rotation. Our app prompts students what shapes they think would be generated by rotating an area and follows the questions with 30 second self-made videos that explain the disk and shell methods. Following the videos, students are provided with links to supplemental practice. Upon completing the journey with Cubie, students may choose to start again if they wish. Calc with Cubie’s integrated story and videos help make the process of learning volume by rotation simple for students as they and Cubie gain confidence to complete their journey.
Because Calc the Cubie is a web-based application, it is accessible from any device that connects to the internet including desktop and laptop computers, smartphones, and wearable devices. Availability on the go allows student to access calculus fun anywhere! Our inspiration for Calc with Cubie comes from our current studies in Calculus 2 which involves solving volume by rotation problems. We combined our coding, teaching, and calculus interests through our app. We would like to thank our calculus professor Mrs. Athanas for providing us with inspiration, our fellow classmate Akhil Aniff who expressed that visualizing rotation was an important concept that continues in advanced math classes, and our friend Jenna Cario who designed the pictures for Cubie and Mr. Tartan.
As part of the project, the Facebook login API was used. In the future, we envision multiple stories with Cubie to teach concepts ranging from math to other subject areas. Facebook would allow us to give security to the login process, save progress, and make learning social.