DEVELOPMENT OF CALCULUS CONCEPTS THROUGH A COMPUTER BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

This paper investigates the students learning of calculus, particularly the use of the definition of derivative, in undergraduate calculus course in a computer based learning environment in which Interactive Set Language (ISETL) and Derive were used. ISETL was used to help students to construct mathematical concepts on a computer, followed by the discussion held in the classroom. Derive was used to do the manipulations and to draw graphs. The study was carried out with 59 first year undergraduate mathematics and mathematics education students. An essay type test measuring students ’ understanding of limit and derivative was developed and administered as a pre-test and post-test. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 11 randomly selected students. The analyses of written and verbal responses to the tasks given in the test revealed well increase in the development of derivative concept. The results also showed that computer, particularly ISETL, prevented students to acquire knowledge by rote learning