Computers Upstage Chalkboard

For Calculus Students, New Computer Teaching Lab Offers a Better Way of Learning

 This fall, calculus students can trade in their discussion sessions for computer laboratories if they select a new sequence that emphasizes technology in the classroom.

The new high-tech calculus courses retain the traditional three hours per week of lecture, but for the discussion section, three hours per week of a specially designed computer class laboratory can be substituted, according to Calvin Moore, chair of mathematics.

"The computational power of computers will help students visualize the concepts of calculus and see the applications of their mathematical work in real settings. Students will be active learners," he said.

Students will meet in a new computer laboratory designed just for this purpose. The lab was created out of the old Evans Microcomputer Facility renovated this summer with funds from several campus units that wanted to see calculus improved. Apple Computer also contributed.

Seven hundred students can be accommodated in the laboratory. At least 4,500 are projected to take the calculus sequence for science and engineering students.

Space is still available in Mathematics 1AM and 53M, said Moore. Students who want to look before they leap can visit the lab in the basement of Evans Hall Aug. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.


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