A Conceptual Approach to Calculus Made Possible by Technology

Calculus reform and using technology to teach calculus are two longtime endeavors that appear to have failed to make the differences in student understanding predicted by proponents. We argue that one reason for the lack of effect is that the fundamental structure of the underlying curriculum remain...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inComputers in the schools Vol. 30; no. 1-2; pp. 124 - 147
Main Authors Thompson, Patrick W., Byerley, Cameron, Hatfield, Neil
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2013
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Calculus
Coherence
College students
Criteria
Curricula
derivative
fundamental theorem of calculus
instrumentation
integral
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Mathematics education
Radicals
Reconstruction
Students
technology
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Summary:Calculus reform and using technology to teach calculus are two longtime endeavors that appear to have failed to make the differences in student understanding predicted by proponents. We argue that one reason for the lack of effect is that the fundamental structure of the underlying curriculum remains unchanged. It does not seriously consider students' development of connected meanings for rate-of-change functions and accumulation functions. We report an approach to introductory calculus that takes coherence of meanings as the central criterion by which it is developed, and we demonstrate that this radical reconstruction of the ideas of calculus is made possible by its uses of computing technology.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0738-0569
1528-7033
DOI:10.1080/07380569.2013.768941