AP Calculus AB Syllabus

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Dortha Kory Wells
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1 AP Calculus AB Syllabus Course Overview This course includes instruction and student assignments on all of the topics Topic Outline For Calculus AB listed in the AP Course Description. The primary goal of the course is to help students see and interpret the world through the lens of integral and differential calculus. To that end, a focus is placed on providing a strong conceptual foundation including the concepts of a limit, a derivative and an integral. With a strong foundation and extensive practice with applications and problems, students become prepared for the AP Calculus Exam and additional coursework in Calculus. We begin the course with a review of many of the topics covered in Precalculus with particular attention placed on investigating functions using multiple representations. As the course progresses, students use multiple representations of functions as tools to obtain a clearer and deeper understanding of differential and integral calculus concepts and the subsequent theory and analysis that extend from those. Regularly, students are expected to communicate, both verbally and in written form, concepts and results using numerical, graphical and analytical information. The TI-84 Calculator is used as a way to help students transition between representations and as a way to interpret results within various representations important calculus topics including limits, local linearity, accumulation, rate of change and the Mean Value Theorem. Students solve several calculus problem using graphing calculators including those where a solution to a differential equation is expressed as an accumulation function. Students are also permitted to use TI-89 s as well for the same purpose. Instruction on the calculator is often done using a Mimio interactive board and TI 84 Smartview software. Most students use their own calculator, but if a student does not have one of his or her own, a TI-84 is provided to that student. Assessment With each lesson, problems and exercises are assigned from the textbook and other sources. Released AP questions are used throughout the course as assessment items, homework and launching points for discussion. Students solve both calculator active and non-calculator problems, and they are required to provide appropriate written presentation of solutions, similar to the requirements of the Free Response section of the AP Calculus Exam. Written justification of calculator solutions are taught and learned so that there is a clear and logical link leading from the mathematics to the technology and then supporting the result. Quizzes and Tests are given regularly. Students take a mid-year exam that includes multiple choice and free response questions. Prior to the AP Exam, students come in one weekend and take a released exam so they can experience the 3 hour and 15 minute AP Calculus Exam.

2 Instruction A course calendar for the 90 hour and a half block course is provided to each student and the calendar is used to direct the progression of the course. However, instruction is guided by student need as well. Lessons are a mix of lecture, student investigation and discussion. Problems often provide the catalyst for the delivery of new material. Students also learn using Paul Foerster s Calculus Explorations and through a number of teacher produced investigations. Students are regularly required to present their work to the class and, by doing so, develop confidence in their communication and clarity in their understanding. They often use a document camera to share written work as they provide verbal interpretations and descriptions. A goal in this course is to support a community of learners where each student provides insight and respectful responses are the norm. After the AP Exam, students are assigned topics to present including several of the BC topics not covered in the AB Syllabus. Students research the topic, plan a lesson and write a problem set. Students then teach their lesson and provide support for their peers to solve the problems they assign. A course calendar is provided below. Instructional Resources Major Textbook Finney, Ross L., Franklin D Demana, Bert K. Waits, and Daniel Kennedy Calculus- Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic. 1 st ed. Menlo Park: Scott-Foresman Addison Wesley, 1999 Supplemental Materials Foerster, Paul Calculus Explorations, 1 st ed. Berkely: Key Curriculum Press, 1998 Best, George W. and J. Richard Lux Preparing for the (AB) AP Calculus Examination 1 st ed. Andover: Venture Publishing, 1997

3 Course Calendar

4 TEXT Ref 6.2

5 Built in flexible days.

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