Calculus teaching ideas
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 3:49 pm
Hi Earl,
Your wife and daughters might like this idea. I tell it to everyone I know who knows Calculus -- Republicans and Democrats alike:
CALCULUS IDEA: â??CONCENTRATION GAMEâ?
Your wife and daughters might like this idea. I tell it to everyone I know who knows Calculus -- Republicans and Democrats alike:
CALCULUS IDEA: â??CONCENTRATION GAMEâ?
Code: Select all
(This game can be played as soon as you start differentiation. The more they play it, the easier a time they'll have when they get to integration. So even as they're still learning derivatives, they're actually learning to integrate.)
You could play a game like ordinary concentration, except instead of matching identical tiles you'd be matching a function (in green) and its derivative (in red).
The beauty of this game is it forces kids' minds to work in both directions, prompting them to perform differentiation at one moment and integration the next.
FUNCTION DERIVATIVE
5 0
4x + 7 4
â??positionâ? â??velocityâ?
â??velocityâ? â??accelerationâ?
â??temperatureâ? â??rate of heatingâ?
â??voltageâ? â??electric fieldâ? (gradient)
â??potential energyâ? â??forceâ? (gradient)
â??populationâ? â??birth rateâ?
â??bank balanceâ? â??rate of depositâ?
â??reactant presentâ? â??reaction rateâ?
â??total costâ? â??marginal costâ?
â??debtâ? â??deficitâ?
x^n n*x^(n-1)
ln x 1/x
e^x e^x
a^x (ln a) * a^x
sin x cos x
cos x - sin x
tan x (sec x)(sec x)
sec x (sec x)(tan x)
ln |sec(x)| tan x
sinh x cosh x
cosh x sinh x
arctan x 1 / (x^2 + 1)
arcsin x 1 / sqrt (1 â?? x^2)
f(g(x)) f `(g(x))*g`(x)
normal dist. function e^(-x^2) / sqrt (pi)
I shall pass this suggestion to my daughter who has been working as a high-school math teacher for several years now. I'm wondering if my wife has heard of this game. As it's now way past midnight here, I'll be sure to tell her about it tomorrow. Again, thanks; and have a great weekend!
He says he is really sorry.