Title: Examples of How We Use Symbolic, Hand-Held Calculators in Teaching Engineering Mathematics

Authors: Michel Beaudin, Kathleen Pineau (mbeaudin@seg.etsmtl.ca)

Affiliations: Ecole de Technologie Superieure, Montreal, Canada

Abstract: Since the 1999 fall semester, the TI-92 Plus or TI-89 has been a compulsory purchase for new students entering our engineering school. The introduction of this hand-held technology had forced us to re-assess our goals in teaching mathematics and to explore new approaches in teaching traditional subjects. The hands-on approach that is made available by this technology makes for a more dynamic class as students are more actively participating in the exploration of mathematical ideas. Now that all our students have this technology at hand, one of our challenges is to secure their attention and convince them of the importance of mastering the mathematical concepts. This is particularly difficult when the calculator can solve a problem in a few seconds when it can take 15 minutes to do the problem by hand using the classical approach. Consequently, our lectures and assessment tools have undergone quite a few changes.In this talk, we will present innovative uses of the TI-92 Plus/89 that relate to our calculus and differential equations courses. We will give examples of presentations taken from our lectures as well as examples of the problems that we now use to assess our students understanding of mathematics and their problem solving skills.