Applications of Derivatives 12
Title of Unit Grade Level
Math 31 15-18 lessons
Subject Time Frame
Kennedy Todd
Developed By
Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results
Learning Outcomes
What relevant goals will this unit address?
(include all relevant GLO(s) & SLO(s))
Curve Sketching:
relating the zeros of the derivative function to the critical points on the original curve
identifying, from a graph sketch, locations at which the first and second derivative are zero
illustrating under what conditions symmetry about the x-axis, y-axis or the origin will occur
explaining how the sign of the first derivative indicates whether or not a curve is rising or falling; and by explaining how the sign of the second
derivative indicates the concavity of the graph
illustrating, by examples, that a first derivative of zero is one possible condition for a maximum or a minimum to occur
explaining circumstances wherein maximum and minimum values occur when f′(x) is not zero
illustrating, by examples, that a second derivative of zero is one possible condition for an inflection point to occur
explaining the differences between local maxima and minima and absolute maxima and minima in an interval
using the first and second derivatives to find maxima, minima and inflection points to aid in graph sketching
determining vertical, horizontal and oblique asymptotes, and domains and ranges of a function
finding intervals where the derivative is greater than zero or less than zero in order to predict where the function is increasing or decreasing
verifying whether or not a critical point is a maximum or a minimum
Applications of Derivatives:
illustrating the connections among geometric, economic or motion problems, the modelling equations of these problems, the resulting critical
points on the graphs and their solutions, using derivatives
illustrating how the chain rule can be used to represent the relationship between two or more rates of change
explaining the clarity that Leibnitz’s notation gives to expressing related rates
Essential Question(s)
What provocative question(s) will foster inquiry into the content? (open-ended questions that stimulate thought and inquiry linked to the content of the
enduring understanding)
Why does the derivative of a function tell us where the function is increasing or decreasing?
Are critical points always maximum and minimum values on a curve?
Is the point(s) at which f’(x)=0 the only case in which a maximum or minimum can occur?
Why are NPV’s of a rational function candidates for vertical asymptotes?
How can you determine if a function has asymptotes without using limits?
How does the sign of the second derivative in an interval relate to concavity of the original curve?
Why does taking the derivative of a position function result in velocity?
Why does taking the derivative of a velocity function result in acceleration?
Can any rate of change problem utilize derivatives to be solved?
Why is Liebniz notation more useful for solving related rates?
Knowledge: Skills
What knowledge will student acquire as a result of this unit? This content What skills will students acquire as a result of this unit? List the skills
knowledge may come from the indicators, or might also address pre-requisite and/or behaviours that students will be able to exhibit as a result of their
knowledge that students will need for this unit. work in this unit. These will come from the indicators.
Students will know... Students will be able to…
How to recognize a rate of change problem Sketch the curve of almost any given function
How to utilize derivatives to solve max/min problems Solve rate of change problems in a variety of contexts
When it is useful to sketch curves to solve problems Solve complex related rates problems using simpler related
How to recognize a related rates problem problems
How to solve a variety of rate of change problems in different
subjects
How to interpret extreme values in relation to a problem
How to use a derivative to predict where a function is increasing or
decreasing
How to solve complex problems by relating them to simpler problems
How to utilize the second derivative to make predictions about a
function
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Individual Practice Pair Problem
Title Quiz Unit Test
Whiteboards Check Solve
Type
Learning Outcomes FA
(Formative/Summative FA FA FA/SA SA
)
Weighting N/A N/A
N/A
Curve Sketching Outcomes X X X X X
Applications of Derivatives Outcomes X X X X X
Triangulation Cognitive
Assessment
(Conversation/ Engagement
Assessment Tool Brief Description FOR/OF
Observation/ (Taxonomy)
Learning
Product)
After or during any lesson, students are given a problem to
solve on their own using their individual whiteboards to show
Individual Whiteboards their work. They raise their whiteboards when done so I can FOR O Application
quickly assess understanding levels and adapt the pacing of
my lessons.
These are various assignments given to students throughout
the unit to help them practice applying their understanding
and their problem-solving skills. These activities may be
Practice Check FOR C, O
individual or grouped and may be done in class or assigned as Analysis
homework. They will typically produce some work to be
handed in that can be used to assess their ability.
Some learning outcomes will be assessed based on a paired
assignment in class. Students will work with a partner to solve
a problem that requires analysis and higher-level thinking. Creation
Pair Problem Solve FOR C, O
Each pair will work on a full sized whiteboard so that their
process and solution can be displayed for myself to check their
understanding and for their peers to compare.
Some learning outcomes will be assessed with a brief quiz in
class and have it returned with a mark and feedback. Students Analysis
Quiz FOR/OF P
will be given a voluntary opportunity to retake a similar quiz at
a later date if they would like to improve their mark.
At the end of the unit, students will complete a unit test in
class. The test will contain multiple choice and short answer
Unit Test OF P
questions that range in difficulty. The test will be their final Creation
graded aspect of the unit.
# Lesson Title Lesson Activities
Outcome(s):
Be able to determine whether a function is odd or even and relate this to the image of the graph.
Use infinite limits and limits at infinity to identify vertical and horizontal asymptotes of a function.
Introduction to Overview: Students will be introduced to the notion of using calculus to form fairly precise curve sketches of any function.
Curve Students are shown the beginning steps of the curve sketching process that don’t involve calculus (domain, intercepts, symmetry).
1 Sketching
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, check student work.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Outcome(s):
Use infinite limits and limits at infinity to identify vertical and horizontal asymptotes of a function.
Overview: Students will learn the process of determining vertical asymptotes of a rational function and how we can verify them
Vertical using limits.
Asymptotes
2
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, check student work.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Outcome(s):
Use infinite limits and limits at infinity to identify vertical and horizontal asymptotes of a function.
Overview: Students will learn the process of taking the limit of a rational function as x approaches infinity and negative infinity
and how this results in a horizontal asymptote.
Horizontal
3
Asymptotes Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, check student work.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
4 First Derivative Outcome(s):
Applications – finding intervals where the derivative is greater than zero or less than zero in order to predict where the function is
Increasing/Decr increasing or decreasing
easing
Overview: Students will make connections to what they’ve previously learned about derivatives and slope of tangent line to
determining where a curve is increasing or decreasing.
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, check student work.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Outcome(s):
verifying whether or not a critical point is a maximum or a minimum
Overview: Students will make similar connections to concepts discussed in the previous lesson to determine where a curve has
max/min points. This is a brief concept so they will have the remainder of the class to practice applying all skills they have learned
First Derivative thus far to curve sketching. They will be provided with a template to help them remember all steps so far and to do their work on.
5 Applications –
Max/Min Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, check student work.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson, curve sketching template
Outcome(s):
employing a systematic calculus procedure to sketch algebraic and trigonometric functions
Overview: This is a continuation of the previous lesson. Students will have time to practice applying all skills they have learned in
the unit thus far. They will be provided with a template to help them remember all steps so far and to do their work on.
Practice Lesson
6
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Student practice/check student work
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson, curve sketching template
Outcome(s):
explaining how the sign of the first derivative indicates whether or not a curve is rising or falling; and by explaining how
the sign of the second derivative indicates the concavity of the graph
Overview: Students will learn the final step of the curve sketching process which involves analyzing the second derivative of the
function to determine concavity of the original curve. Students will be shown computer generated graphs of a function, its first
Second derivative, and its second derivative to see a visual demonstration of the algebraic work we have done so far. They will use the
Derivative template from previous lessons to continue practicing using all the steps.
7
Applications -
Concavity Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, visual aid, check student work.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson, curve sketching template
Outcome(s):
employing a systematic calculus procedure to sketch algebraic and trigonometric functions
Overview: Students will be paired up and each pair will be given a different function to sketch the curve of. They will have a full-
sized whiteboard to show their work on. The class will end with a discussion of how we can compare certain functions that look
similar to make inferences about the curve sketch.
Pair Problem
8
Solve
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Pair problem solve, check work as they go
Notes: This lesson will be done twice in a row.
Resources:
Outcome(s):
using the first and second derivatives to find maxima, minima and inflection points to aid in graph sketching
Overview: Students will be shown how the second derivative can also be used to determine max/min points of a function. They
will be shown that this strategy is not ideal when curve sketching but is more applicable to word problems involving max/mins.
Second
They will have the remainder of the lesson to practice curve sketching in preparation for their quiz.
Derivative
9
Applications –
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, check student work.
Max/Min
Notes: Quiz after this lesson
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Outcome(s):
illustrating the connections among geometric, economic or motion problems, the modelling equations of these problems,
the resulting critical points on the graphs and their solutions, using derivatives
Overview: Students will begin a new section of the unit today. We are moving on from the curve sketching application of
derivatives to real-world applications. Students will learn about how derivatives can be applied to motion problems as the first
derivative of a position function results in the velocity function. This velocity function can be used to determine instantaneous
Velocity
10 velocity as well as other problems related to max/mins.
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, individual whiteboards, student practice.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson, individual whiteboards/markers
12 Outcome(s):
Acceleration illustrating the connections among geometric, economic or motion problems, the modelling equations of these problems,
the resulting critical points on the graphs and their solutions, using derivatives
Overview: Students will continue to learn about applications of derivatives to motion problems. Last lesson, they learned that
taking the first derivative of a position function results in velocity. Today, they will learn that taking the second derivative of the
position function (or the first derivative of the velocity function) results in acceleration.
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, individual whiteboards, student practice.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Outcome(s): illustrating the connections among geometric, economic or motion problems, the modelling equations of these
problems, the resulting critical points on the graphs and their solutions, using derivatives
Overview: Students will learn about the other contexts in which derivatives can be utilized to solve problems. These are contexts
such as economics, biology, chemistry, and some social sciences.
Other
13
applications
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, individual whiteboards, student practice.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Outcome(s):
illustrating how the chain rule can be used to represent the relationship between two or more rates of change
explaining the clarity that Leibnitz’s notation gives to expressing related rates
Overview: Students will learn about what related rates are and how Liebniz notation and chain rule are particularly useful for
solving them. Students will be introduced to more problems involving rates of change but this time they must derive a new rate of
change from a given one in a problem.
14 Related Rates
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, individual whiteboards, student practice.
Notes:
Resources: Calculus: A First Course McGraw-Hill Ryerson
15 Applications Outcome(s):
Practice illustrating the connections among geometric, economic or motion problems, the modelling equations of these problems,
the resulting critical points on the graphs and their solutions, using derivatives
illustrating how the chain rule can be used to represent the relationship between two or more rates of change
Overview: This lesson will be used to answer any remaining questions students may have about applications of derivatives. They
will be given a worksheet to complete in class which they will hand in for feedback.
Teaching and/or Learning Strategies: Direct instruction, class discussion, student practice.
Notes: Quiz, review lesson, and then unit test after this lesson.
Resources: Applications worksheet.
Assess and Reflect (Stage 4)
Considerations Comments
Required Areas of Study:
Is there alignment between outcomes, performance
assessment and learning experiences?
Adaptive Dimension:
Have I made purposeful adjustments to the curriculum
content (not outcomes), instructional practices, and/or
the learning environment to meet the learning needs of
all my students?
Instructional Approaches:
Do I use a variety of teacher directed and student-
centered instructional approaches?
FNM/I Content and Perspectives/Gender
Equity/Multicultural Education:
Have I nurtured and promoted diversity while honoring
each child’s identity?
RATIONALE
In essay format, elaborate on Stage 4 to link unit design to a comprehensive understanding of the theories/principles for mathematics teaching and
learning. Be explicit in your connections to all of your education coursework and readings, including Math C&I. (MAX 1 – 2 pages)
