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Calculus: a problem for many students.

More than half a million students take an introductory calculus course yearly, and the number is growing. Many have option. Calculus is an obstacle thatstudents must overcome if they want to advance in their professional careers of medicine or engineering. Even disciplines like history and sociology now sometimes require some college mathematics. Butfor many people who recently have passed the course, “calculus” brings back painful and negative memories.
In many universities about 50% of the students who take the course do not pass, and they haveto take it several times before they do. At the same time, engineering and science teachers complain that many who do not pass the course don’t know much about calculus or how to use it. Preciselyfor this reason, a small group of educators have begun to form a movement to change the teaching of calculus width the use of computers and calculators. Early this year, 25 faculty members,administrators and others met at the Tulane University in New Orleans to find a solution to the problem. All agreed that change was necessary, but they weren’t sure of the solution.
One key to the question wasthe use of hand calculators and computers. Says New York University mathematician, Ronald G. Douglas, “Scientific calculators eliminate a lot of the routine problems that often occupy much of thestudents’ time”. The conference participants agreed that the use of calculators would bring the focus of calculators back to the fundamental ideas and direct it away from teaching students to mechanicallycomplete a pattern or formula

Cálculo: un problema para muchos estudiantes
Course: Course
Number: Número
Obstacle: Obstáculo
Overcome: Superar
Advance: Avanzar
Professional Careers: CarrerasProfesionales
Medicine: Medicina
Engineering: Ingeniería
Disciplines: Disciplinas
History: Historia
Sociology: Sociología
Mathematics: Matemáticas
People: Personas
Painful: Doloroso...