The Connected Curriculum Project uses your browser as an orchestra conductor, coordinating helper applications like a Computer Algebra System and laboratory equipment like the Texas Instrument CBL. It also uses plug-ins like QuickTime and the Adobe Acrobat Reader. To use this material effectively your browser should be set-up to use these helper applications. Recent releases of Netscape make it much easier to configure Netscape on-the-fly for helper applications. When you ask for a file that requires a helper application, Netscape will tell you a file is coming in that has a MIME type/subtype that Netscape doesn't recognize. It will ask you how to handle the file and give you an opportunity to specify an application that will be used to handle this file type now and in the future. Find the application (which must be on your machine) by browsing in the usual way. You do need to have the following free helper applications or plug-ins on your machine. To get the most out of these modules you should also have one of the following computer algebra systems -- Mathematica, Maple, MathCad, or the TI-92. Although we plan to support MathCad, we have not yet written the MathCad notebooks.

• QuickTime is a movie viewer for QuickTime movies. It is included with recent Macintoshes and some versions of Netscape (as a plug-in) and is available over the World Wide Web for Windows and other machines and operating systems.

• The Adobe Acrobat PDF reader is available directly from the Adobe Web site for free use. Click on the button below for instructions about installing it if you do not already have it.

  

• The TI-Graph-Link programs can be used with the TI-Graph Link cable to download programs or data from either a Macintosh or IBM compatible computer to a TI graphing calculator or to upload programs or data from the calculator to the computer. The software in available free over the Web from Texas Instruments. The TI-GraphLink programs work very well with the Macintosh, DOS, and Windows 95 but some of them are not written to work with Windows NT. On the Macintosh, the hand-off from the browser to the TI-GraphLink programs goes smoothly -- that is, the appropriate TI-GraphLink program is launched and the TI file coming over the Web is handed to the program. When the TI-GraphLink program starts you will see the TI calculator program in a window. Apparently on at least some other computers the hand-off is less smooth. Instead of being handed off to the TI-GraphLink program the file coming over the Web is saved in the directory specified in the browser options. You will need to open this file manually from within the TI-GraphLink program after it has been launched.

  The Texas Instrument CBL and its associated sensors are the basis for an important component of the Connected Curriculum Project -- Hands-on Experimentation Information about the sensors and programs for using the sensors are available from Vernier Software. You will also find programs for the TI-82, TI-83, TI-85, TI-86, and TI-92 throughout this material.