Abstract: Calculus Concepts: An informal approach to the mathematics of change is a reformed-style calculus text developed under a FIPSE (Fund For Improvement of Post Secondary Education) grant at Clemson University. The text was coauthored by the speaker. Calculus Concepts has been used at TAMU-C in some sections of Math 176 (Business mathematics and its applications II; colloquially known as Business Calculus), as an alternative to a traditional business calculus text, since Spring 1994. In this talk, we will present an overview of the text and the project in which it was created. We also discuss what schools are using the text and how they are using it, what students' and instructors' responses to the text have been, what skills it does and does not develop in students, how the text has been and is currently being evaluated and tested, and what results the evaluation process has found thus far.

The speaker is principal investigator for a second FIPSE grant studying the transportability of the Clemson project materials in terms of student performance, student opinions, and cost effectiveness. The Clemson Project was recently awarded Grand Prize in the 1996-1997 INPUT (Innovative Programs Using Technology) Awards Competition sponsored by the Annenberg/CPB Project and the National Science Foundation.