University, Tech Provider Partner on Free Online Calculus Materials for High School
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 12th-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.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.