Report : Computers and Calculu s WRITING COMPUTER PROGRAMS IN FRESHMAN CALCULU S Gabriel J . Basi l Division of Science and Mathematic s Lorain County Community Colleg e Elyria, OH 4403 5 An experiment designed to investigate the effects of writing compute r programs on achievement and attitude in elementary calculus (Basil . 1974 ) was conducted during the spring of 1973 at Waynesburg College, a libera l arts college located in southwestern Pennsylvania . The effects were deter mined by a comparison of data obtained from an experimental and a contro l group of students enrolled in the first semester of freshman calculus . Th e experimental group studied the BASIC programming language and used inter active teletype terminals in completing an appropriate set of calculus home work problems . The control group used a desk calculator as an aid in completing the same set of homework problems . The students had been assigned by the registrar to four class sections , randomly designated as two control and two experimental groups, ranging i n size from 20 to 25 students . Each of two instructors assumed the teachin g responsibility for a control group and an
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