Computer-aided design of graphical review lessons for audio-tutorial college algebra and trigonometry

An audio-tutorial minicourse system of instruction is being developed for the college algebra and trigonometry courses offered at Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne. This system of instruction is patterned after the one developed by S. Postlethwait. At present a college algebra course, MA 153, is being taught using audio-tutorial minicourses. In the spring semester two trigonometry courses, MA 112 and MA 154, are planned to be taught using this system of instruction. Also, a fourth course, MA 111, will be taught using this system in the spring, 1980, semester.

Much mathematics is more easily understood by using graphs. In many minicourses students are required to draw graphs. It is difficult to convey how one graph is “shifted” to obtain another graph using printed materials. As a result, a computer program was developed to create audio-visual review lessons of graphing concepts covered by the audio-tutorial minicourses. A review lesson may contain not only simple concepts such as point plotting, but also dynamic displays of graphs and their transformations. Creation of a review lesson is divided into four steps: (1) coordinate system definition, (2) function definition,(3) example definition, and (4) example viewing. The user is guided through each step via a series of menus. A sophisticated ten minute review lesson may take only 15 to 30 minutes to create. The program is written in TUTOR and runs on the University of Illinois PLATO system.