Workshop: Rethinking the Preparation for Calculus; Arlington, Virginia 2001

Suny College At Oswego, Oswego NY

Investigators

Abstract

Over the last few years, most aspects of the mathematics curriculum have been undergoing major changes. The calculus reform movement has generated changes both in terms of what is taught and how materials are taught; these changes are well documented. In the eighties a conference on reform calculus was held at Tulane University in New Orleans. The Tulane conference helped shape some of the ideas of reform calculus. This project does the same for precalculus. The purpose of the workshop is to rethink the preparation for calculus, given that students are having such different mathematical experiences in high school, calculus in college has changed, technology is providing mathematical tools for both teaching and learning, and college algebra is in the process of changing. Several mathematics educators were invited to a working workshop that was designed to address each of these issues.