ISDDE

Peter Boon

Examples of designed software (Th!nklets)


Geometry


  • Building houses




  • Building with three views
  • Building with two views
  • Building with silhouets


  • Programs for building
      • Building Houses


    Building houses is tool for building and manipulating 3d block buildings on the screen.
    This tool is used in an enviroment: with all kinds of tasks and problems for young children to develop spatial abilities.
    Building with three views , Building with two views and Building with silhouets are collections with more difficult problems that can be used in secondary education.
    The thinklet: Programs for building is developed for secondary education. In this enviroment students can build structures by using commands in a formal language. By using variables, student can build much more efficiently. In this way they can experience the power of variables and get insight in the 3d coordinate system.



    Algebra


  • AlgebraArrows


  • Algebra Arrows Problems 1
  • Algebra Arrows Problems 2


  • Algebra Expressions
    		• algebrapijlen (15K)

    On a basic level the th!nklet Algebra Arrows can be used to perform a calculation by making a chain of operations between an input box and an output box. One of the ideas that played an important role in the development of this applet is that constructing an arrow chain to perform a calculation is a means to shift the attention from carrying out a calculation procedure to representing it. The task for the student is to construct the arrow chain representation. The th!nklet then carries out the calculations. Chain representations foster the view on a calculation process as something independent from the specific numbers in the input box and thus prepares for the concept of formula and function.
    The th!nklet has other options that can support further steps in learning the concepts variable, formula and function. Word variables or letters can be used as input. In that case the result is a word expression or a formula: If the input box is empty or contains a word or a character, it is possible to represent this variable input by a single table of numbers. It's possible to make graphical representations as well.

    The Thinklet Algebra Expressions has similar options, but works with with tree structures to overcome the limitations of the arrow chains.
    Both th!nklets can be modelling tools in problem solving activities, but they can be used for investigating the structure of algebraic expressions as well.

    The th!nklets Algebra Arrows Problems 1
    Algebra Arrows Problems 2 are designed for the this second application. Student have to find arrow chains for a given formula or to change one formula to another.     		algebraexpressies (13K)