Each lesson in PLATOŽ Interactive Mathematics consists of six modules designed to provide you with instruction and practice, and to assess your progress. These six modules are Overview, Explain, Apply, Explore, Homework, and Evaluate. A description of these modules follows.

Overview

Overview gives you a preview of the lesson objectives and provides a pretest. If you are familiar with the content, take the pretest to help you find out what you already know in the lesson. You can also save the pretest to use it as a practice test before taking the Evaluate quiz.

Explain

Explain presents the mathematics and lets you try it as you learn. If you need to learn or review a concept, this is the place for you.

Apply

The way to learn math is by working lots of problems. You can do this in Apply and get instant feedback. When you need help, you can "link" directly to those pages in Explain that teach the concepts or procedures you are practicing.

Explore

Explore lets you investigate the mathematics concepts, often by using tools or gathering data. Explore challenges you to extend what you’ve learned in Explain.

Evaluate

Evaluate is the final quiz which shows what you’ve learned in the lesson. Your score on the quiz is your score for the lesson, so it’s important to prepare for it.

To prepare for the final quiz, work problems and do the Practice Test at the end of the Personal Academic Notebook chapter. You can also take the Overview pretest to see how prepared you are. If there are areas you need to brush up on, you may want to review Explain. Be sure to work more problems.

Homework

Every time you leave a lesson, you automatically get a homework assignment that’s customized for you. You’ll find the homework problems in the Personal Academic Notebook.

General Screen Features and Functions

Sample Screen

You can use this picture to help you identify the location of the general screen features described below.

Menu Bar

The Menu Bar is the horizontal strip at the top of the screen that shows the titles of all of the menus. These menus are described below.

The File menu lets you perform functions such as printing and exiting the lesson.

The Edit menu, which is available only in the Journal, lets you edit text.

The Options menu lets you control the audio in a lesson. Note that you will always hear the audio for a movie even if you’ve turned the audio off.

The Tools menu gives you access to online mathematics and problem-solving tools.

The Resources menu gives you access to information to help you understand and use the lessons.

The Help menu gives you access to information to help you use the course.

Screen Title

The Screen Title tells you the name of the lesson and the name of the module or concept in which you are currently working.

Screen Indicator

The Screen Indicator tells you how far you’ve come and how far you’ve got to go. It also identifies the kind of screen you are on.

Help Symbols

The help symbols are found on the side margin of the screen. Each one offers you additional information about the mathematics on the screen.

Helpline	Click the Helpline if you need an informal explanation or hint.
Link to Explain	The Link to Explain button appears on question screens in Apply and Explore. Clicking Link to Explain takes you directly to those pages in Explain that teach the concepts or procedures in question. When you’re done brushing up, click Go Back to return to your place in Apply or Explore.
Take a Closer Look	The Take a Closer Look button provides you with more examples, an alternative explanation, or additional information to help you learn about a concept in greater detail. (You only see Take a Closer Look buttons in Explain.)

 

Navigation Bar

The navigation bar, which appears along the bottom of the screen, consists of a collection of buttons that you use to navigate through a module. The particular buttons that appear depend upon the current screen.

Personal Academic Notebook	The Personal Academic Notebook button takes you to the section of the Personal Academic Notebook PDF file that supports and extends what you’re learning on the computer.
Audio	The Audio button repeats the audio for the screen you’re working on or turns off the audio that is currently playing. (You can click this button to hear audio even if you’ve turned the audio off on the Options menu.)
Arrows	The Right Arrow moves you forward from screen to screen. The Left Arrow moves you backward from screen to screen.
Go to Menu	Go to Menu takes you back to the last menu you saw, so you can make a new selection.
Go Back	Go Back takes you back to the screen you were on before you detoured into Link to Explain or Help screens. The picture on the button reminds you of the module to which you’ll return.
Score Pretest	Score Pretest ends a pretest and allows you to see your score. (You only see the Score Pretest button in Overview.)
Score Quiz	Score Quiz ends a lesson quiz and allows you to see your score. (You only see the Score Quiz button in Overview.)
Go to Score	When you’re reviewing a question screen after you’ve completed a pretest or quiz, Go to Score returns you to the score screen. (You only see the Go to Score button in Overview and Evaluate.)

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