Dr Paul Hanna, School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Ulster
[Talk given to the 1997 Annual Mathematics Teachers' Conference organised by the Mathematics Panel of the Northern Ireland Educational Support Unit. ]
This article outlines in a non-technical manner, the basic concepts of the Internet and its operation. Resources that can be used to assist mathematics teachers are then identified and finally a brief overview of how teachers can provide their own resources on the Internet is presented.
What is the Internet?
The Internet can be considered as a vast number of inter-connected computers that store information generated by and for humans. This definition emphasises the three main attributes of the Internet:
It is not possible to determine the exact number of computers that form the Internet. In fact, there is even debate over which computers should be included. Estimates are wide ranging and often conflict. However, several estimates would suggest that the Internet is consists of 20 million computers and 60 million human users, spanning across 130 different countries. The current growth rate is estimated at around 100% per year. These figures indicate that the Internet cannot be ignored.
How does it work?
The Internet is conceptually similar to the postal system in which each house is given a unique address and information is passed in addressed envelopes through a number of different sorting offices. Just as each house is given a unique address, each computer that is connected to the Internet is also given a unique address.
A number of different people can reside at any given house and hence when addressing an envelope, the name of the receiver is also identified. Similarly, a number of different people can use the same computer or a single computer can store many different items of information. Hence each person and each piece of information connected with a particular machine has to be allocated a unique name. Note that this name must only be unique within each particular computer, not across the whole Internet (there can be a Mr Smith living at several different addresses).
Thus, for example, to send an electronic mail message, it is necessary to specify the name of the person who should receive the message and a computer that stores their messages. To receive data it is necessary to request the information by specifying its name and the computer on which it resides. On the world-wide web (WWW), which is currently the most common method of accessing the Internet, this is normally achieved by simply pointing and clicking with the mouse.
Mathematical Resources
A major deficiency of the Internet is the unstructured nature of the information it holds and hence users can often "waste" time searching for the required material. In an attempt to overcome this problem, many within the Internet community have established lists of useful resources. Each list is usually specific to a particular topic and offers the names of relevant resources and the address of the particular machine on which they are stored. Accessing the resource is then usually achieved using the mouse to point and click. Most lists also offer a brief description of each of the resources to which they refer.
However, the problem still remains of knowing the address of these lists! "Search Engines" help overcome this problem. They permit the user to specify key words and then return lists of addresses that match these. Two useful search engines are:
The remainder of this section discusses some useful starting points when looking for educational resources for schools on the Internet.
Northern Ireland WWW Schools Registry
Location: http://www.stran-ni.ac.uk/pages/ni-schools.html
This site offers links to all schools in Northern Ireland that have WWW addresses. All levels of education are catered for. It is useful for those who may be thinking of establishing their own school’s presence on the Internet and who are seeking ideas of what to include.
Northern Ireland Network for Education (NINE)
Location: http://www.nine.org.uk/
NINE aims to provide a fast track to relevant materials and sites for the Northern Ireland Curriculum and the education community in Northern Ireland. It categorises resources first by key stage and then by subject. At the time of writing, the NINE site is not fully complete. However, it already offers links to a sufficient number of resources to ensure a visit will be worthwhile.
Smile Program Mathematics Index
Location: http://www.iit.edu/~smile/mathinde.html
The site is a collection of almost 200 single concept lessons. The Mathematics lessons are divided into the following categories: Geometry and Measurement, Patterns and Logic, Probability and Statistics, Recreational and Creative Math, Practical and Applied Math, Arithmetic, Graphs and Visuals, Algebra and Trigonometry, and Miscellaneous.
HTML basics
Many schools now have their own WWW pages which typically contain contact details for the school and special projects completed by the children, for example, on return from a school trip. The novelty of using the Internet often provides additional stimulus for the pupils, generating enthusiasm for their work.
Such pages are created using Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML), which is simply plain text with embedded tags. Programs that assist the creation of the pages do exist but it is important to understand the fundamental principles and concepts. As an example, suppose it is necessary to create a WWW page with the following contents and layout:
This sentence is in bold.
This one is in italics.
Here's one that is underlined!
The HTML required would be similar to:
<B>This sentence is in bold. </B><BR>
<I>This one is in italics</I><BR>
<U>Here's one that is underlined! </U>
From the above example, it is clear that the general form of an HTML tag is <tag>. Tags often occur in pairs to mark the start and end of an effect such as bold or italic. In this case the closing tag is identified by the inclusion of a "/" character. Other features only require a single tag in isolation. For example, to force a line break, <BR> is used.
Certain tags require embedded parameters, for example, to include a picture (image) it is necessary to specify its name and address (source). This information is specified as a parameter and thus the tag is <IMG SRC="picture.gif">, assuming "picture.gif" is the name of image to be used and it is located at the same address as the HTML file (addressing is relative, for example, "the house next door").
Strictly, the above HTML code should look like:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<B>This sentence is in bold. </B><BR>
<I>This one is in italics</I><BR>
<U>Here's one that is underlined! </U>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The <HTML> tag is used to mark the start and end of the HTML source. Each page consists of two main sections, the "header" and the "body", delimited by the <HEAD>, </HEAD> and <BODY>, </BODY> tags respectively. The header is typically used to give the page a title (<TITLE>, </TITLE>) and to provide keywords that may be used by the search engines. The body of the document contains the main content of the page.
It is beyond the scope of this article to fully discuss all aspects of HTML. However, the Internet offers several detailed tutorial and reference guides, for example,
Having created the HTML page, it can be viewed using a program known as a "web browser", such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. If you wish to make the information available on the Internet, it is necessary to put the HTML page on a "web server". The exact details as to how this is achieved are dependent on your Internet Service Provider (ISP) who should be able to offer support and advice in this regard. However, it should be noted that a browser can access HTML pages directly from the computer on which they are stored, without needing to be connected to the Internet.
The Future....
Most predictions suggest that the Internet will continue its current rapid expansion for the foreseeable future. This in turn will lead to more resources being available for the classroom. As communications technology develops, the nature of the resources will probably alter, becoming more interactive. For example, rather than the teacher viewing descriptions of potential activities, the pupils will actually perform these activities using the Internet. This interaction is likely to include live video and audio. Indeed, many interactive activities are already available.
In conclusion, the consensus of opinion is that the Internet is here and is likely to remain. It is, and will increasingly become, a valuable teaching aid, offering new and exciting ways for pupils to learn.