Four Experiences and Some Reflections about the Influence of Mathematical Software on the Mathematics Curriculum

Abstract

So far, the use of media in education has always been applied to achieve established goals, and the selection of these goals was slightly affected by the use of the chosen media. However, the availability of mathematical software, and, more precisely, computer algebra systems, can influence scientific methodology and, consequently, also mathematics teaching methodology. Therefore, the mathematics curriculum could, and presumably should, be reconsidered. An analysis of the possible changes at intermediate levels of the mathematics curriculum is shown in this article. Moreover, the viability of some of them is proved through their experimentation in the classroom. The chosen examples deal with: the survival function, surfaces and their projections, probability density functions, and probability calculus. These experiences are also summarized in this article. Our hypothesis is very concrete: viable curricular changes made possible by the use of computer algebra systems in a certain propitious environment do exist. We do not analyze other didactical issues such as which curricular changes could be made and which of them should be implemented; which is the influence of the teacher’s knowledge of the media and his / her motivation, etc.