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Session 3668

The Design of Java Applets for Vibration Teaching on the WWW

N W Scott and B J Stone

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, The University of Western Australia.

Abstract

A search of the WWW reveals very little available material for teaching vibration that includes animations of motion. In the past such animations have been developed for other delivery platforms and have proved to be very useful in allowing students to gain a good understanding of vibration. This paper describes the results of a project aimed at writing Java applets that should have a wide range of applications. The design objectives are first discussed and it is concluded that such applets should encompass what has been found to be useful in previous non-WWW platforms. Thus animation and the ability to vary parameters are a prime consideration. However the ability to animate some shapes on a computer screen can be abused; a static diagram is open to misinterperetation and a moving diagram even more so. Each new animation has to be thoroughly tested and revised to ensure that students learn what was intended. The latter part of the paper gives helpful hints on writing Java applets which include animations.

1. Introduction

In a companion paper [1 - in these proceedings] a description is given of the current state of teaching vibration via the WWW. A comprehensive set of WWW notes, animations and quizzes is described in that paper. It was stated that, With so much to be gained from illustrating vibration by means of animations it is surprising that apparently there are very few examples on the WWW. This may be the result of a lack of Java skills. This paper describes some Java applets that present animations of vibration and allow parameter variation. The basis for the code is described. In order to appreciate the code the final application will also be described so that the product of the code may be seen. It is important to be very clear on what is required before starting to write code. The experience from the use of some Hypercard material [2] written in 1988 helped set targets since it was an aim of the current work to overcome the known deficiencies in the earlier programs. Also the early work had of necessity been in black and white and colour was considered to be useful and attractive. A typical program that has been used for over 10 years is shown in Figure 1. This shows an animation with parameter variation. As with all the examples given it is hard to appreciate an animation in a static medium, which is of course why animations can be very helpful.

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Scott, N. W., & Stone, B. J. (2000, June), The Design Of Java Applets For Vibration Teaching On The Www. Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8272