Abstract
The use of technological learning tools has been increasingly recognized as a useful tool to promote students’ motivation to deal with, and understand, mathematics concepts. Current digital technology allows students to work interactively with a large number and variety of graphics, complementing the theoretical results and often used paper and pencil calculations. The computer algebra system Mathematica is a very powerful software that allows the implementation of many interactive visual applications. The main goal of this work is to show how some new dynamic and interactive tools, created with Mathematica and available in the Computable Document Format (CDF), can be used as active learning tools to promote better student activity and engagement in the learning process. The CDF format allows anyone with a computer to use them, at no cost, even without an active Wolfram Mathematica license. Besides that, the presented tools are very intuitive to use which makes it suitable for less experienced users. Some tools applicable to several mathematics concepts taught in higher education will be presented. This kind of tools can be used either in a remote or classroom learning environment. The corresponding CDF files are made available as supplement of the online edition of this article.
Highlights
Mathematics is often perceived as difficult and many students leave disciplines in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a result, closing doors to scientific, engineering, and technological careers [1]
The Computable Document Format (CDF) format allows anyone with a computer to use them, at no cost, even without an active Wolfram Mathematica license
According to [28], technological learning tools becoming more popular, readily available and accessible with multiple devices, these tools have increasingly been included into the instructional design of the courses to enhance learning
Summary
Mathematics is often perceived as difficult and many students leave disciplines in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a result, closing doors to scientific, engineering, and technological careers [1]. Current educational digital technology allows students to work with a large number and variety of graphics, in an interactive way, complementing the theoretical results and the so often used paper and pencil calculations. Calculations with this kind of support do not replace paper and pencil calculations, and they should be properly combined with other methods of calculation, including mental calculation [15]. Some studies conclude that students using computer algebra systems are at least as good in “pencil and paper” skills as their traditional counterparts [16].
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