[LON-CAPA-users] drag math

Todd Ruskell lon-capa-users@mail.lon-capa.org
Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:44:55 -0600


Justin,

Would you be willing to share your notes?

Todd

Justin Gray wrote:
> Indeed, this seems to be a bug in DragMath.
> 
> I have been using DragMath in several courses this semester and have not
> encountered any other bugs so far. At least 90% of the problems that I
> am using are formula response. I don't know exactly how many students
> are using the equation editor, but I have noticed that there are far
> fewer complaints from students about difficulties with entering the
> correct syntax for their answers. (Most of these problems were used in
> previous semesters when DragMath was not available.)
> 
> Having said that, because of the heavy emphasis on formula response
> problems in my courses, I have taken some additional measures to help
> students with entering the correct syntax for their answers:
> 
> 1. I have prepared a one page document for students with important notes
> on syntax.
> 
> 2. I sometimes accept alternate answers. For example, I may code ln(x +
> y) as an alternate answer for log(x + y).
> 
> 3. I sometimes code formula hints when students make common syntax
> errors. For example, if a student writes x - 1/x + 2 when the correct
> answer is (x -1)/(x + 2) they may get a hint that says "You seem to be
> missing some parentheses in your answer, which are needed in order to
> indicate the correct order of operations." Using the equation editor to
> preview their answers can help students to catch these mistakes in advance.
> 
> I try to avoid including information in the problem text that explains
> the correct syntax that is needed, because it is difficult to do this
> without giving away too much of the answer.
> 
> Justin
> 
> On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 11:56 AM, H.K. Ng <hkng@fsu.edu
> <mailto:hkng@fsu.edu>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi,
> 
>     I am working on some formula/math response problems using the cas
>     function but had a hard time getting drag math to work properly.
>     Here are some of the issues.
> 
>     1. On a new window, it doesn't seem to let me type in anything until
>     I click on one of the icons. This seems rather backward.
> 
>     2. It seems to rearrange an expression in a strange way. For
>     example, if I type v^2+2g(a-b), it spits back (a-b)v^2+2.g.  It does
>     the same thing if I first enter the expression in the answer box and
>     then click on the pencil icon.
> 
>     Has anyone has similar experience with drag math? Also, has anyone
>     use drag math in a course? What is the feedback from the students like?
> 
>     Thanks,
>     -hk
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Justin Gray                                                  
> Dept. of Mathematics                                  
> Simon Fraser University
> 8888 University Drive
> Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
> Canada
> Tel. +1 778-782-4237
> Fax. +1 778-782-4947
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Dr. Todd Ruskell
Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics       Office:  Meyer Hall 326
Colorado School of Mines                     Phone: 303-384-2080
1523 Illinois Street                         Fax: 303-273-3919
Golden, CO 80401