Discovering Calculus Through Computer Investigation

为了通过更加强调概念理解来改善微积分教学，伊丽莎白镇学院将计算机代数系统的使用纳入其微积分序列中。将计算的负担转移到推导，可以让学生更充分地集中精力学习思想，并培养对数学更好奇的态度。学生每周在计算机实验室见面两次，通过设计来教授、说明和强化微积分概念的实验问题来工作。此外，他们每周在实验室见面一次，以小组形式解决涉及应用所学知识的问题。每周第四节课用于课堂讨论和小组报告。随附的实验手册，正在编写中，将对其他考虑使用计算机代数系统作为微积分教学工具的机构感兴趣。最初，课程的两个部分同时进行，一个有实验室，一个没有，以便进行比较研究，以确定新的课程结构是否以及在多大程度上是一种改进。

To improve calculus instruction by placing a greater emphasis on conceptual understanding, Elizabethtown College is incorporating the use of the computer algebra system DERIVE into its calculus sequence. Shifting the burden of computation to DERIVE allows students to concentrate more fully on learning ideas and fosters a more inquisitive attitude towards mathematics. Students meet in the computer laboratory twice a week to work through laboratory problems designed to teach, illustrate, and reinforce the concepts of calculus. In addition once a week, they meet in the laboratory to work in groups solving problems involving applications of what they have learned. The fourth weekly class is used for class discussion and group presentations. An accompanying laboratory manual, which is being written, will be of interest to other institutions thinking of using a computer algebra system as a tool in calculus instruction. Initially, two sections of the courses are running concurrently, one with laboratories and one without, so that a comparative study can be developed to determine whether and to what extent the new course structure is an improvement.