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The Connected Curriculum Project - Historical Development of CCP

Author(s): 
David Smith and Lang Moore

The Duke component of CCP is the successor to Project CALC: Calculus As a Laboratory Course, which was supported by the NSF Calculus Reform Initiative (1988-93). Most of the precalculus and calculus CCP modules are based on laboratory materials originally developed for Project CALC. A follow-on NSF grant in 1993 supported development of modular lab activities for courses beyond calculus: linear algebra, differential equations, and engineering mathematics. These modules were created as interactive texts in specific computer algebra systems: Mathcad, Mathematica, and Maple.

In 1995 the authors joined forces with a group led by Mike Colvin  and Don Hartig at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and with Frank Wattenberg, then at Weber State University, to form what is now CCP, with the goal of developing a Web-based library of reviewed, edited, and tested interactive materials. This library effort received substantial support from NSF in 1998. In addition, NSF has funded the related PostCALC project to develop interactive mathematical modules for high school students who have finished a course in calculus.

The scope of available CCP materials and the family of CCP authors both continue to grow as additional units are submitted. Our news page gives regular updates on new materials. In addition to materials found at the Duke site, some of the CCP materials are housed at Cal Poly and some at Montana State University. In this article, we discuss only the materials on the Duke CCP site.

NSF Grant Support for CCP

  • Interactive Modules for Courses Following Calculus, Duke University, NSF DUE-9352889, 1993-97
  • Interactive Connected Curriculum Project, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, NSF DUE-9555407, 1996-98
  • The Coordinated Curriculum Library, Duke University, NSF DUE-9752421, 1998-2001
  • Web-Based Interactive Enrichment Modules for Mathematics, Duke University, NSF ESI-9730714, 1998-2001

David Smith and Lang Moore, "The Connected Curriculum Project - Historical Development of CCP," Convergence (January 2005)