Click on the map ... Can you think of how you can use it in interactive activities?
We can adapt this open source Image and cursor applet to our needs. In the applet above you can click on the map to show the co-ordinates of the point. You can mark a point, connect points and list the marked points (marked co-ordinates are copied to use as collected data in problem solving).
Somebody will have to design activities around it! The kind of problems that can be solved with the applet include:
- Finding the distance in kilometres between Ulundi and Mooi River (as the crow flies). Why not do it now?
- Finding the approximate distance by road between Dundee and Greyton.
- Finding the length of the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
- Finding the area of the triangle formed by NewCastle, Vryheid and Dundee, or the area of the Battlefields region in km2.
We can change the map (or you can use it without a map), change the position and colours of the cursor and buttons, and you can decide if you want to mark points, connect points, or show the buttons.
For an example of how the applet is used to show a curve, see Unit20, Modelling a water squirt.
Source: Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications