Today is a very exciting day at Maplesoft! Yesterday, we released Sumzle on the Maple Calculator app. Of course, this might not mean anything to you yet, because, well, what is Sumzle? Don’t worry, we know you’re asking. So, without waiting any longer, let’s take a look.

Sumzle is a math game, inspired by the Wordle craze, where you attempt to guess an equation. Each guess:

• Must include an equal sign
• Must include up to two operators
• May include a blank column

Sumzle’s interface looks like this:

After each guess, the tile’s colors change to reflect how correct the guess was. Green means that the tile is in the right spot, yellow means the tile is in the equation but the wrong spot, and grey means that it is not in the equation. Let me show you the progression of a game, on the Fun difficulty.

Sumzle can be played once a day on the free tier. For unlimited games, you can subscribe to Maple Calculator Premium or ask your friends to challenge you!

Math games are for everyone, and Sumzle has three levels of difficulty. Are you interested in the history of Sumzle? I sure am!

Sumzle was originally designed by Marek Krzeminski, a MapleSim developer. He had called it Mathie and showed the game to his colleagues here at Maplesoft. Well, we loved it!

After a few months of discussion and development, we tweaked the game to create Sumzle. Honestly, the hardest part was naming the game! We had so many great suggestions, such as Mathstermind and Addle. Eventually, we put it to a vote, and Sumzle rose above the rest.

We hope you enjoy the game, because Math not only matters, but is fun. Don’t forget to update your Maple Calculator app in order to receive that game, as otherwise you won’t be able to find it. Next time you need a break, we challenge you to a game of Sumzle!

Have you ever wanted to create practice problems and quizzes that use buttons and other features to support a student making their way to an answer, such as the following?

• Is this a function?
• Total Mass practice quiz
• Vector Operations quiz
• Steps Document – Matrix Eigenvalues

Let’s take a look at how you can use Maple 2022 to create documents like these that can be deployed in Maple Learn. I know I’ve always wanted to learn, so let’s learn together. All examples have a document that you can use to follow along, found here, in Maple Cloud.  

The most important command you’ll want to take a look at is ShareCanvas. This command generates a Maple Learn document. Make sure to remember that command, instead of ShowCanvas, so that the end result gives you a link to a document instead of showing the results in Maple. You’ll also want to make sure you load the DocumentTools:-Canvas subpackage using with(DocumentTools:- Canvas).

If you take a look at our first example, below, the code may seem intimidating. However, let’s break it down, I promise it makes sense!

with(DocumentTools:-Canvas);
cv := NewCanvas([Text("Volume of Revolution", fontsize = 24), "This solid of revolution is created by rotating", f(x) = cos(x) + 1, Text("about the y=0 axis on the interval %1", 0 <= x and x <= 4*Pi), Plot3D("Student:-Calculus1:-VolumeOfRevolution(cos(x) + 1, x = 0 .. 4*Pi, output = plot, caption=``)")]);
ShareCanvas(cv);

The key command is Plot3D. This plots the desired graph and places it into a Maple Learn document. The code around it places text and a math group containing the equation being graphed. 

Let’s take a look at IntPractice now. The next example allows a student to practice evaluating an integral.

with(Grading):
IntPractice(Int(x*sin(x), x, 'output'='link'));

 This command allows you to enter an integral and the variable of integration, and then evaluates each step a student enters on their way to finding a result. The feedback given on every line is incredibly useful. Not only will it tell you if your steps are right, but will let you know if your last line is correct, i.e if the answer is correct.

Finally, let’s talk about SolvePractice.

with(Grading):
SolvePractice(2*x + 3 = 6*x - 9, 'output' = 'link');

This command takes an equation, and evaluates it for the specified variable. Like the IntPractice command, this command will check your steps and provide feedback. The image below shows how this command looks in Maple 2022.

These commands are the stepping stones for creating practice questions in Maple Learn. We can do so much more in Maple 2022 scripting than I realized, so let’s continue to learn together!

Some other examples of scripted documents in the Maple Learn Document Gallery are our steps documents, this document on the Four Color Visualization Theorem, and a color by numbers. As you can see, there’s a lot that can be done with Maple Scripting.

 Let us know in the comments if you’d like to see more on Maple 2022 scripting and Maple Learn.

We’ve just released Maple Flow 2022!

The name of the product – Flow - references a psychological concept known as the flow state. You might know it as being in the zone. That’s when you’re so immersed in your present task that outside distractions melt away, your problem solving skills are firing on all four cylinders, and feel-good neurochemicals flood your brain.

Maple Flow supports a mathematical flow state through a simple design that productively guides the loosely structured and somewhat haphazard way that most people work.

Since Maple Flow's release a year ago, we've regularly added new features through updates, and we're commited to maintaining that momentum. These updates are driven by user feedback, so keep sending your comments and requests my way.

Here’s what we have lined up for you in Flow 2022.

Flow 2022 features a new in-product help system - see it in action here:

In addition to copying & pasting equations and expressions from a help page, you can open entire help pages as worksheets. The nature of Flow means that the help pages have a certain immediacy that becomes very tangible once you start working with them.

You can change the background colour of containers to highlight important results or draw the reader's attention to specific groups of containers.

Prior versions of Flow were a toolbox that needed to be installed on top of Maple.

Now, Flow 2022 is completely standalone, and does not require an existing installation of Maple.This makes managing an installation of Flow far simpler.

A new options menu let you specify how you want worksheet hyperlinks to open – in the same application window, or in a new application window.

We've also made many other quality-of-life changes to Flow. Head on over to the Maple Flow website to learn more or download an evaluation.

If you do as much math as I do, you’ll likely agree that it’s important to take breaks from intensive work.  However, sometimes one wants to keep one’s mind stimulated with math.  This makes mathematical puzzles and games a perfect respite.  Alternatively, even if you don’t do as much math professionally, math puzzles are a fun and easily-accessible way to keep your mind sharp.  Games like sudoku and Rubik’s cubes are incredibly popular for good reason.

My personal favourite math puzzle is the nonogram, sometimes called hanjie, picross, or picture cross.  The game presents players with a blank grid of squares and clues indicating which ones should be colored in.  When the puzzle is solved, the colored squares depict a simple image.  You can read more thorough instructions here.

Nonograms are now available in Maple Learn!  These documents are coded using Maple scripts which can be viewed online in Maple Learn.  The document collection has pre-made puzzles and randomly-generated puzzles, and now you can create your own!  Use this document to create an image, and follow the instructions therein to generate the interactive puzzle.  Once you’ve created your own Maple Learn nonogram, use the sharelink to send it to friends!  Also keep your eye on the entire Maple Learn games collection for more in the future!

Bon vendredi à tous! Je suis de retour avec un autre article de mise à jour détaillant les nouveautés que nous avons apportés à Maple Learn cette semaine. Bonne lecture!

Tout d'abord, nous avons ajouté des permutations et des combinaisons, ainsi que la notation binomiale, à Maple Learn ! Gardez l’œil à l’affût des documents utilisant ces nouvelles fonctionnalités et consultez nos exemples ici et ici. Les opérations se trouvent dans la palette des fonctions. Nous espérons que cela permettra de rendre votre création de document avec Maple Learn encore plus agréable !

Nous avons également mis à jour la syntaxe des graphiques paramétriques pour utiliser l'opérateur tel que. Veuillez consulter notre page d’instruction pour plus de détails (ici). Remplacez simplement la virgule de l'ancienne syntaxe par le |. À partir de là, placez vos restrictions et le tour est joué ! Un graphique paramétrique utilisant l'opérateur tel que.

Enfin, quelques changements mineurs à Maple Learn. Nous avons ajusté la taille de police par défaut à une police de taille 20. De plus, nous avons fait en sorte qu'il remplace automatiquement <= ou >= par le symbole ≤ ou ≥.

J'espère que ces nouvelles fonctionnalités sont tout aussi intéressantes pour vous qu'elles le sont pour moi ! Faites-nous savoir ce que vous pensez dans les commentaires ci-dessous.

Happy Friday everyone! I’m back with another update post detailing the new changes we’ve made to Maple Learn this week. Just keep reading, and we’ll get right into them.

First, we’ve added permutations and combinations, along with binomial notation, to Maple Learn! Keep an eye out for documents using these new features, and check out our examples here and here.  The operations can be found in the functions palette. We hope that this allows even more fun with documents on Maple Learn!

We’ve also updated the syntax for parametric plots to use the such that operator. Please see our how-to page for more detail (here). Simply replace the comma from the old syntax with the |. From there, place your restrictions, and voila! A parametric plot using the such that operator.

Finally, some minor changes to Maple Learn. We’ve adjusted the default font size to 20 point font. As well, we’ve made it automatically change <= or >= to the ≤ or ≥ symbol.

I hope these new features are just as exciting to you as they are to me! Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Probability is a field of mathematics that sees extensive use outside of academics.  Whether one’s checking the likelihood of rain on a weather app or the odds of winning the lottery, probability is everywhere.  My favorite application of probability is dice games like Dungeons and Dragons.  The game can be played very simply (choose to attack a monster, roll a 20-sided-die, try to exceed a certain number) or with a complexity that rivals high school math courses.  There are spells and abilities that modify one’s dice rolls, such as adding additional rolls to the total or rerolling the die and using the higher result.  A good player regularly asks themself when to activate certain buffs and how likely they are to succeed with or without them.

All of these questions boil down to the basics of probability.  Things that one learns in an introductory statistics course extend into countless applications.  Currently, I’m adding some of that knowledge to the Maple Learn document gallery, and I’m here to give a sneak peek.

First, I’ve built tree diagrams in Maple Learn.  Tree diagrams are a way to map probability across multiple events occurring in sequence.  Each branching path represents a series of events that have a specified probability of occurring.

Here’s an example: one morning I flip a coin to decide if I buy a lottery ticket.  If it’s heads, I do.  If I buy the ticket, I have a one in a million chance of winning the cash prize.  Drawn as a tree diagram…

I drew this using Maple Learn line, point, and label operations.

My new D&D-themed documents are a bit more exciting.  In the first, we explore a tree diagram with variable probabilities.  A brave hero makes their way into a dungeon, attacking any random monster they see.  How likely are they to land an attack?  Adjust the details of the question and watch the diagram change.

In the second, I used Maple program scripting to add a live randomized dice roller.  Many probability techniques are at play to analyze which of two buffs will do more good for a dice-rolling adventurer.

I plan on making more documents like these; keep your eyes on the Document Gallery probability collection for updates.

Les probabilités sont  un domaine des mathématiques largement utilisé en dehors des universités. Que l'on vérifie la probabilité de l’apparition de la pluie sur une application météo ou les chances de gagner à la loterie, les probabilités sont partout. Mon application des probabilités préférée est les jeux de dés comme Donjons et Dragons. Le jeu peut se jouer très simplement (choisir d'attaquer un monstre, lancer un dé à 20 faces, essayer de dépasser un certain nombre) ou avec une complexité qui rivalise avec les cours de mathématiques du lycée. Il existe des sorts et des capacités qui modifient les lancés de dés, comme ajouter des lancés supplémentaires au total ou relancer le dé et utiliser le résultat le plus élevé. Un bon joueur se demande régulièrement quand activer certains « buffs » et quelle est la probabilité qu'ils réussissent avec ou sans eux.

Toutes ces questions se résument aux bases des probabilités. Les choses que l'on apprend dans un cours d'introduction aux statistiques s'étendent à d'innombrables applications. Actuellement, j'ajoute certaines de ces connaissances à la galerie de documents Maple Learn je voulais vous en donner un aperçu.

Tout d'abord, j'ai construit des arbres de probabilité avec Maple Learn. Ceux-ci permettent de représenter graphiquement la probabilité de plusieurs événements se produisant en séquence. Chaque chemin de branchement représente une série d'événements qui ont une probabilité de se produire spécifique.

Voici un exemple : un matin, je lance une pièce pour décider si j'achète un billet de loterie. Si c'est face, je le fais. Si j'achète le billet, j'ai une chance sur un million de gagner l’argent. Dessiné sous forme d'arbre de probabilité…

J'ai dessiné ceci en utilisant les fonctionnalités ligne, point et étiquette de Maple Learn.

Mes nouveaux documents sur le thème de D&D sont un peu plus intéressants. Dans le premier, nous explorons un arbre de probabilités variables. Un héros courageux se rend dans un donjon, attaquant n'importe quel monstre aléatoire qu'il voit. Quelle est la probabilité qu'ils lancent une attaque ? Ajustez les détails de la question et regardez le diagramme changer.

Dans le second, j'ai utilisé la fonction script de Maple pour ajouter un lanceur de dés aléatoire en direct. De nombreuses techniques de probabilité sont en jeu pour analyser lequel des deux « buffs » fera le plus de bien à un aventurier qui lance les dés.

Je prévois de faire plus de documents comme ceux-ci; gardez un œil sur la catégorie de probabilités dans la galerie de documents Maple Learn pour les mises à jour.

Récemment, j’ai assisté à une présentation sur comment utiliser Maple Learn pour créer des documents artistiques et aujourd’hui  je vous écris pour vous donner mes conseils sur ce sujet. Maple Learn a beaucoup de fonctionnalités permettant de créer des documents visuels tout en étant un outil parfait pour faire vos devoirs.

Caractéristique 1 : Les formes

 Le premier document artistique de cette collection, le « Pi Pie » a été créé en utilisant la palette géométrie de Maple Learn. Elle fournit des modèles pour tracer des formes géométriques de façon plus simple. Le plus important dans ce document est l’utilisation de « Polygon() » pour créer le symbole pi. Insérez le nombre de points que vous voulez entre les parenthèses et le graphique connectera les points dans l’ordre entre eux. J’ai dessiné le symbole de pi sur un papier graphique et j’ai copié les points dans Maple Learn. C’est beaucoup d’effort, mais je pense que l’effet créé en vaut la peine.

Caractéristique 2 : Les fonctions

Ce personnage se nomme Milo je l’ai créé au lycée. Avec Maple Learn je l’ai reproduit en utilisant avec uniquement des fonctions. Voyons cela plus en détails :

• La tête et les cheveux sont des fonctions paramétriques. Les personnes  se souvenant de leur cours de maths savent que (x, y) = (cos(t), sin(t)) est la formule d’ un cercle unitaire. Nous pouvons modifier l ‘étendue de t, les coefficients avant sin(t) et cos(t) et additionner ou soustraire les constantes pour créer des cercles partielles ou des ellipses.
• Les yeux grisés sont fait avec des inégalités. Maple Learn permet de griser des régions d’inégalités automatiquement.
• Le sourire de Milo est l’équation d’un cercle limité par “| y < -0.5”. L’opérateur barre  « such that » vous permet de limiter le domaine et l’étendue d’une fonction.
• Le cœur vient d’une formule trouvée en ligne. Les mathématiciens ont découvert beaucoup d’équations incrédules de ce type !

Caractéristique 3 : L’animation

Mon document artistique final permet de voir germer une jolie fleur lorsque l’on utilise le curseur de la barre de défilement.  Après avoir défini une variable dans Maple Learn, la barre de défilement apparait et permet l’ajustement de la valeur de la variable. Par exemple :

• Associez les coordonnées d’un point avec une variable. Évaluez une fonction à un point correspondant à cette variable et voyez comment lorsque la variable change, le point se déplace.
• Associez l’étendue  d’une fonction paramétrique à une variable. Quand la variable change la fonction s’étend ou se contracte.
• Utilisez une variable avec une fonction par morceaux. Quand la variable est dans la gamme lui correspondant vous pouvez la visualiser.

Les mathématiques sont une belle langue et chaque type d’expression peut ajouter un plus à votre toile. Mes techniques ne sont que le début de belles pièces d’arts dans Maple Learn. Montrez-nous vos documents artistiques ou vos techniques dans les commentaires !

It’s been a few months since the previous blog post on Maple Learn art, and the possibilities keep on growing.  I recently took part in a presentation on art in Maple Learn, and am here to pass on some tips and tricks to you, dear blog reader.  Maple Learn has a huge capacity for both creativity and ingenuity, and is the perfect program for doing your homework or exploring the world of mathematical art.  Check out the art I made here, and soon even more will be added to the Maple Learn Example Gallery!

Feature 1: Shapes

The first drawing in the batch, the “Pi Pie” (happy Pi Day!) was created using Maple Learn’s geometry palette.  The palette provides templates for plotting geometric shapes easily.  Most notably in this art is the use of Polygon() to create the pi symbol.  Insert as many points as you want between the brackets, and the plot will connect each one in order.  I drew pi on graph paper and copied down all the coordinates into Maple Learn.  A lot of work, but the effect was worth it.

Feature 2: Functions

This is Milo, a character I made in high school.  In Maple Learn, he is built entirely out of functions.  Let’s take a deep dive into what’s going on:

• The head and hair are parametric functions.  Folks who’ve taken a math class that includes parametrics know that (x, y) = (cos(t), sin(t)) is the formula for a unit circle.  We can modify the range of t, coefficients in front of sin(t) and cos(t), and add or subtract constants to create partial circles and ellipses.

• The shaded eyes are done with inequalities; Maple Learn shades inequality areas automatically.

• Milo’s big smile is the equation of a circle with the added detail “| y < -0.5”.  The bar is the “such that” operator, which allows users to limit the domain and range of the function.

• The body is a piecewise function: positive slope for x-values on the left side, negative slope for x-values on the right, and nothing in between.

• The heart shape came from a formula found online.  Mathematicians have discovered some incredible equations!

Feature 3: Animation

By final piece sprouts into a beautiful flower as one moves a slider.  After defining a variable in Maple Learn, a slider appears to adjust it.  This can be used for interactive explorations of graphs and animations.  For example:

• Associate the coordinates of a point with the variable or a function evaluated at the variable.  As the variable changes, the point will move.

• Associate the range of a parametric function with the variable.  As the variable changes, more or less of the function will appear.

• Use the variable in the conditions of piecewise functions.  When the variable is in the correct range, the shapes or functions you defined in the piecewise will appear.

Mathematics is a beautiful language, and every type of expression can add more to your canvas.  These techniques are just the beginning of beautiful Maple Learn art.  Feel free to share your own art or your favorite tips in the comments! 

Si vous aimez les mathématiques, vous connaissez le symbole mathématique pi. Vous devriez aussi savoir que le jour de pi est le 14 mars ou 3/14. Le jour de Pi était donc ce lundi donc vous vous demandez peut-être pourquoi je publie ce post aujourd’hui ? Et bien pour ce poste, j’ai pensée que je pourrai vous donner plus d’information au sujet de pi, l’histoire de pi et l’histoire de la célébration du jour de pi.

Commençons avec une vue d’ensemble de pi. Il est le symbole mathématique qui représente la proportion entre la circonférence d’un cercle et son diamètre. Comme il a une connexion avec les cercles, pi est utilisé pour calculer les volumes des solides, l’aire et le périmètre d’un cercle et bien plus.

Comment a t’il été découvert ?

Le premier calcul de pi a été effectué par Archimède qui a fait une approximation de l’aire d’un cercle en utilisant le théorème de Pythagore. Il trouve l’aire de deux polygones réguliers : Celui qui s’inscrit dans le cercle et celui que le cercle circonscrit. Avec cette méthode, il a pu trouver une approximation de l’aire entre les deux polygones et ainsi une approximation de l’aire du cercle.

 Le symbole de Pi a été introduit et popularisé au 16^e siècle. Avec cela, George Buffon a trouvé une méthode de calcul de pi basée sur des probabilités au même siècle.

Tout mène à une de mes plus grandes interrogations : Comment le jour de pi a été créé ? Je sais que la date est symbolique, mais pourquoi nous célébrons pi ?

Le jour de pi a été introduit en 1988 par un physicien nommé Larry Shaw.  Le 14 mars est aussi la date d’anniversaire d’Albert Einstein et ce qui ajoute quelque chose de plus a célébré supplémentaire pour les physiciens. Le premier jour de pi fut célébré avec une parade circulaire et des tartes aux fruits.  À Maplesoft, nous l’avons célébrer avec des tartes ainsi qu’en faisant de l’art avec Maple Learn.

Peut-être que qu’un jour d’autres jours célébrants des concepts mathématiques ajouterons à notre calendrier, mais en attendant, commencez planifier le jour de pi pour l’année prochaine ! Peut-être que vous pouriez créer quelque chose de plus grand que la première célébration en 1988. J’espère que votre jour de pi c’est bien passé !

If you know math, you’re aware of the mathematical sign of pi. If you’re really into math, you know of Pi Day, occurring on March 14, or 3/14. Pi day this year occurred on Monday, so you may be wondering why we’re posting today as well! Well, I thought I’d give a bit more information about pi, the history of it, and the history of celebrating Pi Day.

Let’s start with a brief overview of pi. Pi is a mathematical sign representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, typically approximated to 3.14. Because of its connection to circles, pi is used to calculate the volumes of solids, area and perimeter of circles, and many other applications.

So how did we come up with this?

The first calculation of pi is attributed to Archimedes, who approximated the area of a circle using the Pythagorean Theorem. He found the area of two regular polygons: the one inscribed into the circle, and the one which the circle is circumscribed. This way he could find an approximation between the areas of those two polygons, and therefore an approximation of the area of the circle.

In the 1700s, the symbol for Pi was introduced and popularized. Along with that, Georges Buffon found a way to calculate Pi based on probability in the same century.

This leads to what was my biggest question: How did Pi Day come about? I know the digits of the date are significant, but why do we celebrate pi?

Pi Day was founded in 1988 by a physicist named Larry Shaw. March 14 is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, adding a bit of extra celebration to the date by physicists. The first Pi Day featured a circular parade and fruit pies. Here at Maplesoft, we celebrated with pie, and learning how to make art with Maple Learn.

Maybe someday we’ll have more days celebrating mathematical concepts, but for now, start planning for next year’s Pi Day! Perhaps you can make it bigger and better than the first celebration in 1988. I hope your Pi Day this year went well, and happy Friday!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. After months and months of hard work by a lot of people, it’s finally arrived:

It's Maple launch day!

Yes, I am very pleased to announce that Maple 2022 is here.

As we’ve done in years past, Samir and I started this release by spending many hours reviewing feedback from Maple Primes posts, support emails, sessions with staff who regularly talk with customers and who use Maple themselves, and our own direct conversations with customers. Of course a year is never enough to implement every good idea, but our goal was to identity a feature set that would appeal to, delight, and hopefully excite our customers.

Ultimately, you will be the judge, but I can tell that there are some things in Maple 2022 that I am personally very excited about. These are “quality of life” improvements that have been requested by customs and make some things in Maple that were frankly kind of annoying a lot better. The rest of this post will discuss my favorite improvements in more detail (or you can watch this video), and of course, you can get much more information about these and all the other improvements in What’s New in Maple 2022.

#1 – Did you ever find yourself jumping back and forth between your Maple document and Print Preview, again and again, as you prepare your worksheet for printing or export to PDF? It can be a pain, especially with long documents that include plots, tables, and sections. So I'm happy to announce that Maple 2022 includes a new Print Layout mode. This new layout mode lets you see the page boundaries as you edit the document, so you can adjust your content as you go. In Maple 2022, what you see on the page is what you get when you print or export to PDF. Hurray!

#2 – Are you tired of explaining to your students why the graph of tan(x) doesn’t look right in Maple?  Good news!  With Maple 2022, you won’t have to have that conversation ever again. Maple 2022's new adaptive plotting algorithm means that when you plot tan(x), 1/(1-x), floor and ceiling functions, and most other curves with discontinuities, you’ll get what you expect by default – no more vertical lines, no need to specify the discont option, and it’s still fast.

#3 – Did you ever run into a situation where zooming, panning, or resizing your plot didn’t actually give you the better view of the plot you were looking for? Now Maple recomputes and redraws when needed to give you what you wanted – a good look at your plot.

#4 – Are you a fan of the Plot Builder? If you are, I'm delighted to let you know that the Plot Builder in Maple 2022 now supports plotting multiple expressions together on the same axes. So don't hold back - use the Plot Builder to customize plots and animations of any number of 2-D and 3-D expressions plots and animations. (We also got rid of that annoying empty plot when you first open it, too.)

#5 - And, by popular demand, Maple 2022 now magnifies the text in the table of contents/search results when you magnify a help page. No more squinting to find the topic of interest. My eyes are much happier.

Those are my favorites, but there is a lot more in the release. To learn more about all the improvements in Maple 2022, visit What’s New in Maple 2022

The COVID 19 pandemic threw us for a spin with Online Learning – but after two years, it’s clear that Online Learning is here to stay. The good news is that more and more research is making its way to the classroom, giving us more information on the pros and cons of different teaching methods and how it impacts student learning. This all leads to one question: How can teaching be more effective during these tough times? Let’s discuss the research done and how it relates to Maple Learn. As a note, I do not claim to be an expert on this topic. I am simply a student attempting to improve online learning for myself and my peers.

There are three main styles of learning, in this context, agreed upon by psychologists: Passive, Active, and Interactive Learning. However, today we’re only going to focus on Interactive Learning. Interactive Learning is where the student acts as “a subject of educational activity” (Kutbiddinova, Eromasova, and Romanova, 2016). What this typically means in practice is the student collaborates with peers. This piece is much more difficult when classes are online and/or asynchronous. I know I struggled to make connections with my peers while in school online, as our main form of communication was discussion board posts. Let’s talk about the advantages of Interactive Learning first, and then discuss how Maple Learn can be used within the Interactive Learning model.

The main advantage of Interactive Learning is that it encourages the active participation of all involved. When encouraged to interact with peers in smaller groups, this allows more participation of the members of the group, compared to asking questions to the entire class and asking for them to raise their hands for answering. At the same time, Interactive Learning creates more engagement in the material, along with more student initiative (Ibid).

In one example discussed by Anderson in 2014, the students got into pairs and discussed their answer to a question. The students, in the exercise, had to commit to one answer and then discuss their reasoning behind the answer, in an attempt to change the other student’s mind. This created understanding of the material, along with emotional investment in the topic.

So, how can Maple Learn help to facilitate Interactive Learning in an online environment? Let’s start with recreating Anderson’s example, but online and with a slight twist to accommodate a math class.

Using Maple Learn, the student can go through all their steps, copying from their paper notes, or solving the equation as they type. They can also use text to explain their reasoning behind taking each step, or to place formulas beside the math they’ve used.

From there, the student can use the snapshot share feature to swap documents with someone else in the class. This allows both students to see the other’s work, and reasoning, without having to read scanned handwritten notes. This also means the review can happen asynchronously, allowing students from different places and/or time zones to discuss. In contrast to the original example, since we’re discussing Math, the student is not necessarily trying to convince the other student. The comments on the math are used more for giving targeted feedback, and understanding either other ways of solving the problem, or the correct way if originally solved wrong.

Taking a step away from the example, this method can also be used for peer marking. Maple Learn offers many different text font colors, allowing students to leave comments on the document, then generate a new snapshot to send back to the original student.

There are many other ways Maple Learn could be used for Interactive Learning, but we’d like to hear your ideas too! Please let us know in the comments if you’ve used Maple Learn in other Interactive ways, or if you have any questions or suggestions for us.

Works cited:

Anderson, Jill. “The Benefit of Interactive Learning.” Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2014, https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/14/11/benefit-interactive-learning.

Kutbiddinova, Rimma, et al. “The Use of Interactive Methods in the Educational Process of the Higher Education Institution.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION, 2016, Accessed 2022.

Adeptes de Maple Learn, nous avons de bonnes nouvelles pour vous! Nous avons fait une mise à jour de Maple Learn avec quelques fonctionnalités supplémentaires que nous sommes ravis de partager avec vous.

Tout d'abord, nous avons ajouté des fonctionnalités de Conception réactive à Maple Learn. Cela signifie que lorsqu'un écran est plus petit ou rétréci, l'interface de Maple Learn change pour refléter cela. Cela vous permet d'avoir encore plus d'espace disponible, quelle que soit la taille de votre écran ! Par exemple, lorsque votre écran est suffisamment petit, et que vous cliquez dessus sur les palettes, une petite boîte de dialogue contextuelle s’ouvrira en dessous d'elles, au lieu d’avoir tout leur contenu dans la barre d'outils.

Parallèlement à cela, une icône de redimensionnement d'image a été ajoutée à la barre d'outils pour faciliter le redimensionnement des images insérées dans votre document.

Comme note finale sur la conception réactive, plusieurs de nos menus ont été combinés en un seul, désigné par le menu latéral dans le coin supérieur gauche (illustré ci-dessous, à gauche). C'est là que vous trouverez les menus  fichier, édition, exemples et aide. Si vous cherchez le menu des paramètres, vous le trouverez entre le symbole premium et votre photo de profil en haut à droite. Ceci est désigné par trois points empilés les uns sur les autres (illustrés ci-dessous, à droite).

Nous avons également ajouté plus de raccourcis clavier et augmenté la prise en charge du clavier AZERTY. La liste mise à jour est disponible ici. Nous espérons que ces nouveaux raccourcis vous aideront à créer des documents plus facilement.

Parallèlement à la prise en charge du clavier AZERTY, nous avons renforcé la prise en charge de nos utilisateurs francophones. De nombreux autres documents sont désormais disponibles en français et nous avons résolu un problème où les caractères latins étendus ne s'affichaient pas correctement.

Les graphiques cliquables sont là ! Maple Learn inclut désormais une fonctionnalité qui permet aux utilisateurs de colorier nos graphiques cliquables. Ces documents sont créés à l'aide de Maple et permettent de générer des documents de coloriage par numéro ou différentes visualisations pour les théorèmes qui impliquent des graphiques, comme ce document. D'autres documents seront disponibles ultérieurement dans la galerie de documents, située ici.

Dites-nous ce que vous pensez des nouvelles fonctionnalités ci-dessous ! Nous espérons que vous apprécierez les utiliser pour créer de nouveau documents Maple Learn.

Works cited:

Anderson, Jill. “The Benefit of Interactive Learning.” Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2014, https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/14/11/benefit-interactive-learning.

Kutbiddinova, Rimma, et al. “The Use of Interactive Methods in the Educational Process of the Higher Education Institution.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION, 2016, Accessed 2022.