Mathematics Department at SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill is establishing a computer laboratory/classroom for regular class scheduling of all precalculus and calculus classes. This classroom is allowing students to learn mathematics using a "hands-on" approach. The Harvard Calculus Consortium Project materials are being used to teach Calculus I and II at Cobleskill. Selected exercises from the Harvard materials are also supplementing the precalculus classes while other precalculus lessons are being written or modified from other projects. The faculty are attempting to modernize all of their course outlines by using the types of presentations and exercises given in the Harvard materials. While no specific technology is required for these materials, this project is creating a computer laboratory/classroom that includes the CAS software Derive. Such software allows the student to do numerical problems, graphs, and closed-form algebra and calculus very efficiently. Thus, the students are learning by doing mathematics throughout the class instead of just watching the teacher. In addition, the computers are available for in-class and out-of-class laboratory projects. These projects are designed to present "real" mathematical situations.
