Seeing is believing

Abstract

They say a picture is worth a thousand words; how much more are we able to understand from a moving, coloured picture? Having taught students over many years it is my experience that students are often struggling to understand the mathematics at a time when it is important that they come to grips with some difficult concepts. The stronger students survive but the weaker ones have a hard time. In using the approach described in this paper we are attempting to give all students a deeper, and at the same time more intuitive, understanding of a few of the concepts which are of importance to their study of their chosen subject. Although some evaluation of the applications has been carried out it is too early to give conclusive evidence that this method is the correct one. However, early results seem to suggest that students do appreciate that this method gives a deeper insight into areas which they have had difficulty with. The fact that we have been unable to describe the applications in any very meaningful way in this paper proves that the static approach lacks something. When the same applications are viewed on the computer screen then, and only then, does the full impact become clear — seeing is believing.