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Claremont Colleges

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Full-Text Articles in Education

The Case Of The Missing Speedometer: The First Day Of Calculus, Marion D. Cohen Jan 2015

The Case Of The Missing Speedometer: The First Day Of Calculus, Marion D. Cohen

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This article describes the way I've been teaching the first day of Calc I, my single-variable Calculus class. By the end of the hour students have (A) dictated difference quotients for me to write on the board, (B) dictated one example of the limit of difference-quotients definition of derivative of a function at a point, and (C) calculated a few derivatives. The more rigorous definitions of function, of operations on functions, and of limits can wait until later. This approach has been very successful, and students have said they "get it this time around."


Teaching Research: Encouraging Discoveries, Francis E. Su Nov 2010

Teaching Research: Encouraging Discoveries, Francis E. Su

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

What does it take to turn a learner into a discoverer? Or to turn a teacher into a co-adventurer? A handful of experiences—from teaching a middle-school math class to doing research with undergraduates—have changed the way that I would answer these questions. Some of the lessons I’ve learned have surprised me.