Instructional Episodes Overlapping Calculus I and Physics Concepts

(to facilitate the How can people take these overlapping concepts and apply them
overarching inquiry) to other real-world issues?

Prepare Students for In the previous unit students were working through problems
New Learning learning to solve the derivative the long way. You can find the
process below:
F (X + H) - F (X)
Lim _______________
X-0 H
In the new lesson, students will see a new way of solving
derivatives, as well as finding second derivatives. Rather than
carrying out this vigorous process, students will see a simpler way
to solve for derivatives. Students will also begin to see the
overlapping concepts between velocity and the first derivative, as
well as acceleration and the second derivative. By the end of these
opening lessons students will be able to:
- Solve for the first and second derivatives (velocity and
acceleration)
- Discuss the similarities between the concepts from
Calculus I and physics
I plan on introducing them in a more structured inquiry. At first, I
plan to begin working with them through examples and showing
them the overlapping ideas from the two subject areas. This will
lead into the students working together on examples without me
leading.
Presenting New To start, while they will have the foundation of material, the
Learning students will begin researching topics where the new material can
be used in a real-world situation. They will have a short, two
question, writing assignment. Through guided inquiry, the students
will see there are a variety of ways to apply what we are learning
to the real world. The learning strategy through this short
assignment is to put meaning to their learning. The question
always asked in math is, “When will I ever need this.” I do not
want to give them my examples. Rather I would like them to
explore these potential options themselves. If I give the students a
baseball example, they may not be as excited about the material. If
they can find a relation in something they are interested in, the
students will be more intrigued to learn more about the material
since there is a meaning backing the concepts. While I do plan on
grading the writing assignment, I will only be grading it based on
completion out of ten points.
Deepening/Reinforcing To deepen and reinforce the students learning, students will begin
Learning the process of their final project. Students will begin researching
their topics in groups of two or three and start to work with the
material in this real-world scenario. Since I have provided them
with a foundation of knowledge of working with the material, I
want the students to dive into the project on their own. Obviously,
with needed guidance, I will be there to help and answer any
questions they may have. The learning strategy behind this is
research. I want students collecting data and using the material to
make sense of the data. What is their problem? How fast is that
problem growing or decreasing? How much will it grow or
decrease in the future at the same trajectory? There will be no
formative assessment during this period since it will be the
opening days of their project.
Applying and The students will be working on a project where they will be
Demonstrating Learning demonstrating using the material learned in class by applying it to
a real-world problem. Students will be asked to submit their data,
their hypothesis, the process they took to prove their hypothesis, a
final report, and present their material in class. This process will be
worth a total of 100 points and the rubric can be found attached to
the unit plan. Through this project, they would have been working
with the material to work towards a common goal. While all
students are not working on the same topic, the process will be the
same. I want students to have meaning in their learning. By using
the material to help something they are passionate about, it will
help their understanding. The point of the presentation is for the
students to demonstrate to me their understanding of the material.
Throughout the project and in their presentation, I will see them
applying the material.