Visual Mathematics and Cyberlearning (Mathematics Education in the Digital Era)

This first book in the series will describe the Net Generation as visual learners who thrive when surrounded with new technologies and whose needs can be met with the technological innovations. These new learners seek novel ways of studying, such as collaborating with peers, multitasking, as well as use of multimedia, the Internet, and other Information and Communication Technologies. Here we present mathematics as a contemporary subject that is engaging, exciting and enlightening in new ways. For example, in the distributed environment of cyber space, mathematics learners play games, watch presentations on YouTube, create Java applets of mathematics simulations and exchange thoughts over the Instant Messaging tool. How should mathematics education resonate with these learners and technological novelties that excite them?

The first volume in this new Springer series explores innovative ways of learning and doing mathematics to make it more appealing to the Net Generation. This generation consists of visual learners who thrive when surrounded with new technologies and whose diverse needs can be met by a variety of cyber tools. In their search for novel ways of studying, such as collaboration with peers and multitasking by using multimedia, the Internet, and other Information and Communication Technologies, they learn mathematics by playing games online, watching and sharing  presentations on YouTube, exploring and creating Java applets of mathematics simulations and exchanging thoughts over the instant chat tools. This volume presents mathematics teaching and learning in a way that resonates with these new learners: as a contemporary subject that is engaging, exciting and enlightening. It offers educators insight into how they can make meaningful use of the dynamic, interactive, collaborative, and visual nature of new learning environments while having a deeper understanding of their potential advantages and limitations.

This volume:

- Bridges the gap between Net Generation learners and mathematics education
- Presents conceptual frameworks for research in this area
- Explores research data that shed a light on innovative theories and practices in the field of visual mathematics and cyberlearning.