TPC² Functions Course I

A Project of the Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology

Arizona State University

Syllabus

Schedule

Date	In Class	Assignment
Aug 15	Agenda Introductions Course description Administrative stuff Nature of professional development Introduction to The Teaching Gap	Teaching Gap Assignment
Aug 22	Agenda Group activity: Teaching Gap In-class activity (covariation) Listening to students' reasoning	Video analysis assignment
Aug 29	Agenda Discuss videos and analyses Discuss the motive for this assignment Box problem and covariation	Examine textbooks
Sep 6	Labor Day	Labor Day
Sep 13	Agenda Discuss textbook assignment Revisit the Box Problem Intro to Graphing Intro to Trig	Review summary of Intro to Graphing Use Using definition of angle measure and trig functions to solve problems intuitively
Sep 20	Agenda Hand out computers Discuss issues involved in thinking with graphs Continue intro to Trigonometry	Trig Functions
Sep 27	Agenda How to help students see trig identities.	In your PLCs, create an activity and a worksheet that will support your students in understanding an angle measure as something that can be put naturally on a number line. (For example, it is "unnatural" to think of putting area on a number line.)
Oct 3	Agenda Examine student's intuitive trigonometric thinking Quiz Introduction to Polar Coordinates (revisit our discussion by viewing the "Polar Fairy Dust" movie)	Re-work one of 4, 5, or 6 (solving problems intuitively) similar to in-class example Re-work #6, Trig Functions Polar Coordinates homework
Oct 10	Agenda The nature of graphs Interactions between functions and coordinate systems Revisit polar coordinates In-class activity	Finish Polar Coordinates homework. Re-view Video #3 of Over and Back. What were the central ideas? What were the important pedagogical moves? What do you see now that you didn't see when you viewed it earlier?
Oct 24	Agenda Discussion of Problems that radians solve What makes a function linear? Five day unit plan for introducing trig	Five day unit plan to introduce trigonometry
Oct 31	Agenda Present unit plans Covariation of quantities (City A and City B) Covariation as intuition (Sue & Daryl)	City A and City B homework Sue's Diagram & Falling Paper Clip
Nov 7	Agenda Discuss City A and City B homework Re-conceiving standard school math problems as entailing covariation	Functions as Models
Nov 14	Agenda Importance of precision when creating mathematical models Action vs Process	Extension of in-class example regarding action versus process conceptions
Nov 21	Reprise of Action vs Process conceptions of formulas Review of f(x) = x² mod cos(x) Why does it break where it does? Why do we get some regions of "increased activity" and some regions of "little activity"? What does this have to do with teaching high school math? Inequality activity Course evaluation	Logic of inequality activity Inequalities from a broader perspective
Nov 28	Thanksgiving	Thanksgiving
Dec 5	Play with polynomials What is the difference between y = x² and y = x³? Create "live" tangent for any function Thinking about the influence of terms and coefficients.
Dec 12	Final Projects due

Project