The information is some which they have collected rather than coming froma book. The student also gets to see the immediate impact of changing parameters within the equation as they match the curve. I don't know that it helped me understand the stuff we were doing any more, but it made it alot more interesting to actually be able to see what was occuring, rather than just talking about it. The calculators let us see what the pendulum was doing number wise. It was kind of hard to pull back all of the stuff we learned at the beginning of the year, but it was a good review.
Time again is the main concern.
It was nice to get the two mornings to work together and the time when Vance was able to come to class, but this is a limited exposure. I felt it was worth the time that I expended and hope that the others feel that way also. I feel that there was a definite advantage to using the technology to enhance the students understanding the sin curve. Approximately eighteen students were in each class. The probe was set up in the back of the room.