Chapter 10: Multiple Representations and Local Linearity: Research Influences on the Use of Technology in Calculus Curriculum Reform

Curriculum development tends to be a process of gradual evolution punctuated with more active periods of revolution. The term “calculus reform” refers to such a period recently in the history of calculus curricula.

After several decades of publisher-driven development based on user surveys resulting in textbooks with constantly increasing numbers of pages, a groundswell of interest in changing the calculus curriculum arose in the mid 1980s. The Sloan Conference (held at Tulane University, 1986) and the Calculus for a New Century Conference (held in Washington, DC, 1987) sounded the call for reform of the calculus curriculum, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided funding for a variety of curriculum development efforts.