This is a collection of animation that interactively demonstrates the appearance of surfaces and solids of revolution and cross-sections that are used to find volumes.
Type of Material:
Collection, Simulation
Recommended Uses:
classroom demos, student exploration
Technical Requirements:
Requires a "Java-enabled" browser.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
To visualize surfaces and solids of revolution via animation and interactivity and to provide a visual guide on how the volumes are computed using cross-sections.
Target Student Population:
Students in second and third semester calculus courses.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
A practical knowledge of how to calculate the volume of a solid of revolution.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
This is a collection of 5 animations within a larger collection that are geared towards the visualization of surfaced obtained by revolving a surface about an axis. The animations are interactive in that the user can rotate the axes, start and stop the animation, zoom in and out, and move the cross-section at will. They include rotations of a parabola, a parabola and a line, and also include a pyramid. They are color coded in a way that makes the animations effective. These examples are the most important example for when the student is first introduced to the concepts of such 3-dimensional objects.
Concerns:
There is no explanation of the underlying concepts or links to pages that explain the underlying concepts.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This collection will serve as a powerful demonstration of the concepts by the instructor or an exploration session where the student can work in a computer lab. The entire demonstration of any one of these animation should take only a minute or two, allowing the instructor enough time for the rest of the lecture
Concerns:
The instructor will need to explain to the students how the animations relate to integration.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
At the top of the main page there are easy to understand instructions on how to interact with the graph. Most of the interactivity just involves double-clicking or grabbing and dragging a special object. Students who read the instructions will have no trouble working with the animations.
Concerns:
One of the manipulatives involves grabbing a very hard-to-find rectangle and moving it. The author does give a warning about this but it is still a challenge to find. Putting the instructions on each objects page would be helpful.
Creative Commons:
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