Typical classes in mathematics involve the teacher presenting the material and the students being forced to catch on and learn quickly to keep up. By using computer projects to learn mathematics, students get to use interesting and more stimulating ways to learn the mathematical concepts. The students take charge of their own learning and become accountable for getting help when they need to. Furthermore, students working in groups empower and encourage each other to learn more and keep trying.
In a computer assisted model of learning, students save their work at points and use the computer to manage where they are in the problem-solving process. When students input their work into the computer, they can see progress and add to their solution as they uncover strategies for solving the problem mathematically. This tracking is essential to learning mathematical concepts in that students start with the basic concepts and incrementally add on to what they already know and feel comfortable with.
With computer-assisted projects in mathematics, students are actually "doing" math and not just "learning" about the concepts of math in a vacuum. Many students are more successful as active learners rather than passively learning by rote drills or memorization. Action-based learning takes place when interactive tools such as computers or graphing calculators are introduced into the classroom and students begin to take advantage of the capabilities of the tools.
In a project-based learning environment, students learn from each other instead of being empty vessels waiting for the teacher. In mathematics, many students lack the confidence to venture out and explore on their own for fear of failing. With computer-based projects that apply mathematical concepts to solve real-world problems, students gain the interest level first and then become more confident as active learners. Working in teams allows students to depend on each other and themselves for answers instead of being entirely dependent on the teacher. In this scenario, the teachers functions more as facilitators of learning in that they encourage and guide students in the right directions toward successful solutions.