Work in Progress: Wireless Tablet Technology in the Calculus Classroom leads to Inquiry and Discovery

This paper studies the impact of infusing the Calculus II curriculum at Diablo Valley College with collaborative activities based on wireless tablet technology. Under a 2005 HP Technology for Teaching grant, students used Tablets to record and analyze data collected in labs, access Web based Mathematica notebooks and Java applets, collaborate, give class presentations, and report on field trips to organizations that use Calculus in their practices. Many students at the college come from underrepresented socioeconomic groups. These new learning experiences ignited their interest in the subject matter and helped them get a better focus for their studies. In the classes taught with the redesign a 98% attendance rate was observed, along with an 86% retention (up from ~75%) and a 78% success rate (up from ~69%). Student involvement increased significantly and at least 17% of the students improved their performance by 1-2 letter grades after the introduction of the technology