Teaching Computer Algebra at the Versailles St-Quentin University : Experiences And Perspectives

Abstract

Several years ago, the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin has introduced the teaching of Maple in the second year of Physical Sciences and Mathematics cursus. This has been carried out in the form of practical work. The main objective was to help the students in using the new tools offered by modern Computer Algebra software to solve physics and mathematics problems. Providing the students with alternative insights into some aspects of mathematics such as integration and linear algebra was also looked for.

The general organization as well as instruction schedules will be described. Details concerning the course material and how it was used during the training sessions will be given. The discussion will focus on the results obtained over two consecutive academic years. In order to meet the expected support for better learning modern Mathematics, it came clearly to the conclusion that there is a strong need in developping more specific teaching modules based on the Computer Algebra technology. Otherwise, the cursus just looked like an introduction to the use of Maple (or some similar and currently available software) mainly as a powerful mathematical tool.