A Trial for the Development of Math-Science Educational Materials on the Internet

A trial for the development of math-science educational materials is presented. Most of the natural phenomena can be expressed in mathematical equations and the equations help systematic understanding of the phenomena. However, for students without a solid background of elementary mathematics, it is difficult to comprehend the natural phenomena through equations. We, therefore, developed a material that assists understanding of the natural phenomena not through equations but through simulations on the web. The materials may help attract high school students to sciences who tend to avoid sciences due to the superficial difficulty. The material presented here simulates the growth of Escherichia coli, one of the well-studied bacteria. The material will accept changes in parameters for the growth conditions by the users and visualize the impact of the change on the web. This functionality may also contribute to the elementary understanding of biotechnology.