A test of Don's calculus program

The synopsis of a paper that was  presented at  the 23rd International Congress of Applied Psychology in Madrid, Spain, July 1994, by Janie Shaklee:

"A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING CALCULUS CONCEPTS TO 10 YEAR OLD STUDENTS IN A MAINSTREAM ENVIRONMENT

SHAKLEE, Janie; McGILL, Karen; PULOS, Steven; COONEY, John and Teresa McDEVITT, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado, USA.

D. Cohen developed a cognitive instructional program for teaching calculus to children. This study was conducted to systematically implement and evaluate the program's effectiveness in lower-socio economic status classroom environment. Twenty-six ten year-old students received instruction in the calculus concepts of limits and infinite series using Cohen's approach. An adjacent classroom, which also had 26 students, served as a control. Pre tests and post tests in calculus concepts understanding and attitudes to mathematics were administered to both groups. Results indicated that ten year old students can learn calculus concepts in a group instructional format. While the pretest indicated a lag in scores achieved by girls, there were no significant gender differences in the post tests. We conclude that the teaching and learning of calculus can be achieved in mainstream classrooms using the conceptual instructional program designed by Cohen".

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