To improve calculus instruction by placing a greater emphasis on conceptual understanding, Elizabethtown College is incorporating the use of the computer algebra system DERIVE into its calculus sequence. Shifting the burden of computation to DERIVE allows students to concentrate more fully on learning ideas and fosters a more inquisitive attitude towards mathematics. Students meet in the computer laboratory twice a week to work through laboratory problems designed to teach, illustrate, and reinforce the concepts of calculus. In addition once a week, they meet in the laboratory to work in groups solving problems involving applications of what they have learned. The fourth weekly class is used for class discussion and group presentations. An accompanying laboratory manual, which is being written, will be of interest to other institutions thinking of using a computer algebra system as a tool in calculus instruction. Initially, two sections of the courses are running concurrently, one with laboratories and one without, so that a comparative study can be developed to determine whether and to what extent the new course structure is an improvement.
