Computer Classroom for Liberal Arts Mathematics Curriculum

皮策是一所文理学院，该校的学生正在学习与他们感兴趣的真实世界情景相关的数学。三门非传统数学课程正在设计中，旨在吸引那些之前接触大学数学水平有限的学生。这些课程的主要部分涉及学生与计算机工作站的交互，这使他们能够直接控制数学现象的元素，并立即将结果可视化。通过这些互动，学生们获得了对数学及其与周围世界的关系的理解。在一所大学里，计算机硬件和软件提供了一个学习实验室，在那里，数学研究往往是许多学生已经学会避免的，而且计算机经常只与文字处理联系在一起。眼下的目标是重振学生与数学学习的关系。最终目标是改变一些可能存在的误解，即什么是适合文科大学生的数学教育。

Students at Pitzer, a liberal arts college, are studying mathematics presented in a manner that relates to real-world situations that interest them. Three non-traditional mathematics courses are being designed to be attractive to students who may have limited previous exposure to college- level mathematics. Major portions of these courses involve students interacting with computer workstations which are allowing them to directly control the elements of mathematical phenomena and immediately visualize the result. Through these interactions, students are gaining an understanding of mathematics and how it relates to the world around them. The computer hardware and software are providing a learning laboratory at a college where mathematical studies are often something many students have learned to avoid and where computers are frequently only associated with word processing. The immediate goal is to revitalize the relationship students feel with mathematical studies. The ultimate goal is to alter some of the misconceptions that may exist about what is an appropriate mathematical education for liberal arts college students.