Re: Role of CAS in education: was Re: Historical CAS question

From: Robert H. Lewis (rlewis_at_fordham.edu)
Date: 01/25/05 

Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 17:45:36 +0000 (UTC)

On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 15:30:00 -0800, Richard J. Fateman wrote:
>This discussion must have happened in other
>places and times.
>I'm sure I've discussed this more than once!
>Maybe we can find something on www; e.g.
>
><a
href="http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/users/Murphy/Papers/CalcReformPaper.html">http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/users/Murphy/Papers/CalcReformPaper.html>

  That's an interesting article but biased toward the use of CAS.

>mike_sh@nospam wrote:

>......
>>> That said, I have experimented with using Maple in first year
calculus
>>> for engineering students, but it ain't easy. There is just too
much
>>> material to cover, and these students don't have enough time on
their
>>> hands to get deeply into anything.

 I agree.

>> True. But it also the fault of the schools. Schools expect students
>> to know how to use these systems, but they never take the time
>> to teach these things as a separate subject.

  In my experience, we don't expect them to know it, and there is
no way there is going to be time for them to learn it. Many, many
students find the use of computers for anything beyond web surfing
or word precessing to be daunting. There would have to be an entire
course dedicated to the use of CAS software. Academic politics make
this virtually impossible, in my experience. Perhaps those who
teach at engineering schools have a different experience. Great,
good for them.

  An essay on my web site about the nature of mathematics and
education might be of interest. Go to www.fordham.edu/mathematics
and click on WhatMath?

Dr. Robert H. Lewis
Mathematics Department
Fordham University