An investigation into the use of a computer algebra system for the teaching of introductory school calculus

Abstract

Mathematics education in South Africa is in a state of crisis. One manifestation of this crisis is that students in the former Department of Education and Training (DET), which catered for blacks in the former Apartheid government, fail dismally in the final matriculation examinations as compared to students in other departments. Whilst the process of amalgamating the different departments of education in the new dispensation is underway, this state of affairs remains. The poor matriculation results must be seen in the socio-historical context of Apartheid education which was introduced when the National Party assumed power in I-948. The Bantu Education Act of l-953 was promulgated, as part of the overall policy of apartheid, to ensure that blacks received a separate and inferior education. Verwoerd himself, the infamous architect of Apartheid, makes this crystal clear when he states that through Bantu Education: The Bantu must be guided to serve his own community in all its respects. There is no place for him in the European community above the leve1 of certain forms of labour.