Learning Resources

University, Tech Provider Partner on Free Online Calculus Materials for High School

• By Michael Hart
• 01/22/15

A partnership between a Canadian university and a Japanese educational technology provider will make precalculus and calculus materials available to teachers and students all over the world.

Working with Maplesoft, the University of Waterloo's Center for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) in Waterloo, Ontario, have launched a courseware site intended to support high school students and their teachers. The materials available on the site include interactive investigations and on-screen texts synchronized with audio to teach the concepts in 12^th-grade Advanced Functions (precalculus) and Calculus and Vectors. There are also self-assessment questions, exercises and solutions.

All the materials are free and intended to help prepare students for university-level math courses. Teachers and students can visit courseware.cemc.uwaterlooo.ca to access the materials. No login or special software is necessary.

"The CEMC's mission is to support and promote mathematics and computer science education," said CEMC Director Ian VanderBurgh. "Creating online courseware seemed like a natural next step for us."

This is the first collaboration between the University of Waterloo and Maplesoft. However, representatives at both say they hope to work together in the future to provide more online courses in core math subjects as well as in optimization, modeling, computer science and quantum information systems.

"Now students everywhere will gain from the experience and know-how of the university and Maplesoft's experience in technical education," said Maplesoft President and CEO Jim Cooper.