Abstract:

We examine the use of software applications in teaching. We create categories of their use (from different perspectives) in order to more easily reveal how applications serve us in teaching, explicitly, how exactly they affect our teaching, especially whether they actually play the role we ascribe to them. We discuss a variety of aspects that can significantly influence or obscure the true effect of using applications in our teaching. In order to be able to do this, we introduce several types of disorders of the teaching process. However, we do not stay only on the theoretical level. Since we teach mathematics in a faculty that is technically oriented, we use computer algebra systems Maple and MATLAB (mainly) to demonstrate specific examples (knowledge of these or other specific applications is not required). However, we do not claim that our text cannot also be useful outside technical fields. We describe specific teaching methods using applications. We are specific, but not too dependent (as we hope) on the chosen application. Finally, we try to recognize the true effects of individual teaching methods. We would like each reader to be able to easily compare its own experience and methods with what he read here. We do not want to impose the truth of our reasoning and observations, but we want to convince the reader that similar reasoning and observations should be dealt with and to support him in examining his teaching methods.

Keywords:

Software application, teaching, teaching process, teaching methods, Maple.