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We feel the printed word, by itself, is not an effective mathematics delivery vehicle for every student all of the time. This is the reason for the great oral tradition of mathematics in which questions and answers can flow back and forth. In modern times, the oral tradition of mathematics has been replaced by the lecture system for many reasons dating as far back as the the Industrial Revolution. Mass-education has emphasized efficiency and as a result course material has taken on more and more importance at the expense of student understanding. Modern lecture halls have been allowed to discourage the free flow of questions and answers so necessary for learning. In the C&M classroom, we bring back the concept of interactive learning using powerful computers and Wolfram Research's Mathematica Software. Not only are all calculations and plots alive and editable by students, the file containing the courseware is editable by students. Students are encouraged to insert their own thoughts, mathematics, and graphics as they create their own understanding of the concepts.
We are well aware of the problems that can occur when technology is improperly implemented in the classroom. Our philosophy emphasizes technology as another learning tool. Mathematical concepts and skills are the real goal of the classroom.
Students are encouraged to discover mathematical concepts by changing example problems, experimenting with functions and graphs,and discussing ideas with class mates. Then the student applies those concepts to solving problems that deal with real world applications, such as personal financing, physics and chemistry topics, and many engineering topics. Using interactive texts gives students an unlimited amount of examples to encourage self-learning, as this University of Illinois C&M student points out:
"I took C&M because I like the fact that we have electronic notebooks which means we have infinite sets of examples. I cannot learn from one example such as in the (traditional course). I would rather be in this lab and learn things on my own, by trial and error than to run to a tutor who will only program my memory to do only certain kinds of problems."
Another C&M student puts it a different way:
"C&M takes the boredom and frustration out and lets you be creative and learn on your own -- at your own pace."
Take a look at these sample student investigations Developed inside C&M notebooks. For more information visit the official C&M website
To learn any subject, students must have the ability to communicate with those who are teaching the subject. A major component of C&M classes is effective communication with the instructor, lab assistants, and other students inside and outside of the classroom. Not only are students encouraged to talk among themselves, the instructor, and the lab assistant about mathematics, they also use e-mail, the worldwide web, FTP, and remote control access software to assist them in their learning. Find out more about the communication software we use in the C&M program.
Does C&M require special, high-end computers to run Mathematica? No. Our C&M Lab is filled with "off-the-shelf" computers. The courseware is platform independent and exchanges well between Macintosh, Windows, Linux, and Unix versions of Mathematica satisfying these requirements.
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