Abstract
This article presents a teaching experience in a first calculus course at college level, founded on the idea of promoting functional thinking to understand the basic concepts of calculus. The experiment was conducted with freshmen, given the serious deficiencies in algebraic and functional concepts. We apply a methodological approach using digital technologies in two types of activities, which are reproducible: Introducing concepts through interactive educational scenarios (IES), which simulate real situations proposed to students, and using the tutorial system CalcVisual. In this experiment, unlike remedial courses, functional thinking is not seen as a prerequisite but as a proper object of the course. Analyzing the results, we note in particular a significant reduction in initial prerequisite deficiencies and progress in functional thinking.