Course Description
The purpose of this course is to study algebraic and transcendental functions and the general theory and techniques of calculus. The content will include, but not be limited to the content specified by the Advanced Placement Program.
Course Goals
After completing this course, the student will be prepared to successfully take the Calculus AB exam in May and to take subsequent calculus courses.
Calculator Use
Students are issued a TI 84 graphic display calculator (GDC) at the beginning of the school year. As necessary as paper, pencil and problems, they are used daily, in class and at home. In the first days of class, a review of basic functions and their transformations checks student familiarity with the calculator. Symmetry, intercepts, asymptotes and properties of trigonometric functions are revisited. Students are then asked to predict the shape of the graph of a complex function by recognizing its functional components. Confirmation or the need to revise their guess is provided by the GDC. The three approaches to problem solving: numerical, graphical and analytical are interwoven as limits are explored informally with graphs and tables. They are then formally defined and calculated analytically. Comparison of secant and tangent graphs are used to introduce work with derivatives and to confirm results found using rules of differentiation. When learning curve sketching, the student is rewarded for having done correct procedures when their sketch agrees with the graph in the GDC.
Communicating Mathematics
Although students show computation and explain their conclusions in class, on homework and on tests, this skill is improved when teacher feedback is supplemented with peer review. Students are given a question from a released AP exam. When, under testing conditions, they have completed it, they are grouped. Using the grading rubric, they award points and notate why points were lost on each other’s papers. This information is then shared by group members. Feedback is provided quickly. Weak areas are often more obvious when mirrored in another’s work. Seeing correct examples gives students models to try to replicate.
Text:
Primary Text:
Larson, Hostetler, and Edwards. Calculus of a Single Variable. 8th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Student Evaluation and Grading Policy
Quarter grades will be determined following the district guidelines:
90% - 100% A
80% - 89% B
70% - 79% C
60% - 69% D
Below 60% F
Within those guidelines, category weights for quarter grade calculation are:
Tests and Quizzes 60%
Homework 10%
Classwork 30%
Supplies
The graphing calculator plays a major role in both teaching and learning calculus. Problem solving, interpreting results, experimentation, and supporting conclusions are some of the skills which the calculator will reinforce. Tests will be taken partially with the graphing calculator and partially without the graphing calculator.
Recommended calculator: TI-89
Available calculator: TI-84
Help!
Tutoring is available during lunch and on Tuesdays & Thursdays after school. Other extra help sessions may be arranged.