The Influence of CAS on Curriculum and Evaluation in School Mathematics

Abstract

Computers have brought changes in the goals and contents as well as in the instructional methods of school mathematics: The rapidly changing contemporary society requires a person with additional mathematical literacy rather than one with accomplished knowledge; Since problem solving in IT-based society can be optimized with technology, the ability using proper technology in problem solving is required in mathematics education. Computer Algebra Systems(CAS) are designed and developed primarily for problem solving in mathematics, science and engineering area and have been widely used in Korea. But CAS, especially the abilities of symbolic manipulation make teachers nervous to adopt them in school mathematics because they worry their possibility of preventing students learning high school algebra focusing on symbolic manipulation. This study is to investigate the feature of algebra curriculum with ClassPad300 in high school and to discuss the perspectives of algebra education under CAS environment. The focus, content, sample activities and test items will be provided and discussed.