One of the Standards for Mathematical Practice is use appropriate tools strategically, and one of my calculus students sent me the following reflection about this practice.
KH has reached a point in mathematics where the functions that we use have become part of what she thinks of as available tools to use when solving a problem. She was referring to problems where logarithmic differentiation was helpful. She was solving differential equations, and after integrating it was helpful to make both sides of the equation the power of e. Her comments struck me as something I want to remember as the journey continues …
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Mr-Butler
June 10, 2014 at 1:18 pm
Yay for SMPs. I love that you’re incorporating this language and vocabulary into the classroom with the students. I think my favorite part about the SMPs is the layman’s like language used; students can actually take math and apply it for future uses as it’s put in the context of a standard for mathematical practice.