Teaching and Learning of Calculus

In an era when college calculus textbooks are over a thousand pages long, a book with the title “Teaching and Learning of Calculus” that is 37 pages long, including 6 pages of references, would appear to be a mere  snippet. In this case, there is no deception in the appearance.

Other than the sections describing how calculus is taught in seven different countries (regions), namely France, United States, Germany, Uruguay, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong, there is little that will be new to the calculus instructor. Being told that students dislike epsilon-delta proofs and have difficulty understanding all of the concepts behind the derivative, (as a tangent line, function, rate of change), is nothing new to the people that teach the topic.

The one feature that can provide benefits to the calculus instructor looking for new ideas is the lengthy set of references. Six pages in length and in relatively small print, it contains pointers to a great deal of analysis of the teaching of calculus. 

Charles Ashbacher splits his time between consulting with industry in projects involving math and computers, and teaching college classes. In his spare time, he reads about these things and helps his daughter in her lawn care business.