These are projects posted by the students of Dr. Gove Allen at Brigham Young University. These students have taken one semester-long course on VBA and generally have had no prior programming experience

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Derivative App

Executive Summary

Learning how to derive functions is a task that most students struggle with. Derivatives are a step away from what most students have seen in their math classes so far, and because they're not solved strictly arithmetically at an undergraduate level, they not only provide new concepts that students must grasp, but they are also not solvable with a normal calculator. There are many websites that teach students the rules for differentiation, but only few that will calculate them. There are no websites that allow students to enter the equations to derive into a calculator in the same format as they are written by hand, or in a textbook. That compounds the problem. Additionally, while there are websites that are dedicated to derivatives, there are few options to find practice problems with answers for students wanting to practice on their own in preparation for a test.

In order to solve this and help students actually learn the material, I implemented a four piece solution into my project that I feel more than adequately addresses and resolves the problem that students face while learning derivatives, as well as provides a template that can be used in a variety of academic settings. The four piece solution that I created encompasses the following parts, and each is explained in detail in the Implementation Documentation section of the write-up:

     1. Derivative Calculator
     2. Customizable Flash Cards
     3. Customizable Quizzes
     4. Links to continue learning


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