WE ALL HAVE OPINIONS BASED ON OUR OWN TEACHING, OBSERVATIONS, AND
PROFESSIONAL READINGS; IN MY CASE, I HAVE HAD AN EXTREMELY POSITIVE
EXPERIENCE WITH CALCULATORS AT THE BEGINNING, INTERMEDIATE, COLLEGE ALGEBRA
AND PRE-CALCULUS LEVELS. HOWEVER, FULL SATISFACTION WITH THEIR USE DIDN'T
COME UNTIL I HAD GOOD CLASSROOM MATERIALS THAT WERE REFORM IN NATURE AND IN
LINE WITH THE NCTM AND AMATYC STANDARDS. THEN I DID EXPERIENCE A HIGHER
LEVEL OF STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF BASIC CONCEPTS. NOT JUST WITH THE TYPICAL
"GOOD" STUDENTS, BUT A VERY WIDE RANGE OF STUDENT BACKGROUNDS AND
ABILITIES. THIS INCLUDES THE FUNCTION-GRAPH CONNECTION.
>The conceptual difficulties are reflected in just how many years of
>development of mathematical systems it took before even the Cartesian
>coordinate system was developed.
>
>Yet, for all the difficulty the students have in this area, this basic
>concept connecting graphs and equations is probably our most valuable
>offering to them with respect to graphing.
AND NOT JUST CONNECTING THE FUNCTIONS IN SYMBOLIC FORM TO THE GRAPH, BUT
CONNECTING THE PARAMETERS IN THE FUNCTION TO THE RELATED BEHAVIOR EXHIBITED
BY THE FUNCTION.
Ed
=================
>Paula
>>___
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