When you walk into a typical AP Calculus classroom, what you'll see is both impressive and a little depressing. Our best and our brightest are the only ones that make it this far, and their reward is to examine some of the most elegant, interconnected, organic ideas in all of mathematics - in the most soul-crushingly dense, convoluted way possible. To their credit, these are the types of kids who will put on their helmets and dive into even the most challenging obstacles, and they do. They'll tackle 2-3 hours of homework per night, they'll study countless weekend hours, and some will even pull out a college credit for it. They'll have a huge number of theorems memorized, they'll be able to crunch problems that would make their parents cry, and they'll be able to solve numerous word problems (as long as they're predictable and formulaic and familiar).
In contrast to this idea - when you speak to the average freshman calculus professor, you'll find their mentality completely the opposite. They're excited about what they do, and excited to open the door for their students. They understand that unlike in a high school setting, calculus is not the pinnacle but the base of the true climb. For the first time, students have finally finished climbing the trunk of this great tree and have the opportunity to marvel at the incredible number of branches, diversity of fruit, and sheer possibilities that lay before them. If it was not yet apparent, it is these values I labor to bring to my students, and it is this joy and wonder that I hope to awaken them to over the course of this year. To this end, I've decided to base the lectures and content of my course on Ohio State University's Calculus One course via Coursera.org. This course was put together by Dr. Jim Fowler of OSU and has seen some 40,000 students complete it from all over the globe.
After putting numerous students through it during independent studies, I'm more and more convinced of the advantages of having my students familiarized with college level lectures. Each day, we alternate back and forth between watching short video lectures and myself pausing to break them down. After each we summarize the key ideas in notes, both in formal calculus language and in common language of their own choosing. This is interspersed with problem sets that students work out with each other, and then as a class we move forward when ready. I encourage you to examine the links below to explore more about this course, and to explore Coursera in general.
In contrast to this idea - when you speak to the average freshman calculus professor, you'll find their mentality completely the opposite. They're excited about what they do, and excited to open the door for their students. They understand that unlike in a high school setting, calculus is not the pinnacle but the base of the true climb. For the first time, students have finally finished climbing the trunk of this great tree and have the opportunity to marvel at the incredible number of branches, diversity of fruit, and sheer possibilities that lay before them. If it was not yet apparent, it is these values I labor to bring to my students, and it is this joy and wonder that I hope to awaken them to over the course of this year. To this end, I've decided to base the lectures and content of my course on Ohio State University's Calculus One course via Coursera.org. This course was put together by Dr. Jim Fowler of OSU and has seen some 40,000 students complete it from all over the globe.
After putting numerous students through it during independent studies, I'm more and more convinced of the advantages of having my students familiarized with college level lectures. Each day, we alternate back and forth between watching short video lectures and myself pausing to break them down. After each we summarize the key ideas in notes, both in formal calculus language and in common language of their own choosing. This is interspersed with problem sets that students work out with each other, and then as a class we move forward when ready. I encourage you to examine the links below to explore more about this course, and to explore Coursera in general.