Hello,
in Germany computeralgebra systems are used in some schools in higher
secondary education (essentially the upper levels of the "Gymnasium")
and in university type education. There is, however, no uniform way
in which computeralgebra systems are used. Some people use them
essentially in order to evaluate formulae (including, sometimes,
formulae which they don't understand), some use them as programming
tools in connection with the role of algorithms in mathematics
education. For Maxima, sort of a breakthrough, as far as the
educational usage is concerned, came with the wxMaxima interface.
Developing good user interfaces for good products was and is essential
for promoting the use of systems like Maxima in educational contexts.
Jochen Ziegenbalg
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From:?Richard Fateman <fateman at eecs.berkeley.edu>
> To:?Maxima - list <Maxima at math.utexas.edu>
> Cc:
> Date:?Sun, 17 Jun 2012 07:57:08 -0700
> Subject:?[Maxima] Using software (like Maxima?) as a math tutor
> For those who think that? educational usage of Maxima (etc)? is a natural
> "low hanging fruit" killer app... Maybe it is, but it hasn't worked out that way so far.
>
> ? I direct you to this page from US Dept. of Education...
>
> http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20074005/execsumm_algebra.asp
>
> where you can read that (as of 2007)
> ----------------------
>
> The algebra study included three products that were implemented in 10 districts and 23 schools. ...
>
> Products covered a conventional range of algebra topics. They included functions, linear equations, and inequalities; quadratic equations; linear expressions; polynomials; and so on. .....
>
> Algebra products did not affect test scores by amounts that were statistically different from zero
>
> -----------------------------
>
> Of course it could have been worse; the software could have lowered the test scores :)
>
> Perhaps one can argue that these products were simply uninspired and that they DIDN'T use
> Maxima,? and that would make all the difference.
>
> RJF