9452046 Mooers By incorporating the use of technology in mathematics classes at Whatcom Community College, the faculty seek to increase student retention, enhance success and improve matriculation. The result is to provide a better foundation for scientific and technological literacy. All mathematics faculty are provided with hands-on resources and on-site professional development training to devise and incorporate laboratory components utilizing the TI-82 graphing calculator in algebra, precalculus and calculus courses. By providing classroom sets of TI-82 calculators and projections units, all mathematics classrooms have vital technology which facilitates both group discussions of mathematics and the overhead projection of student and faculty presentations. A set of calculators for the library provide student with access to the technology outside of the class time. The project is predicated on the belief that the collaborative nature of laboratory learning moves the student from a passive role to one of an active learner, injecting a new spirit of investigation into learning. The graphing calculator is a tool by which abstract concepts and concrete experiences are bridged, changing the way mathematics is taught and learned.
