Abstract
Calculus is a challenging course for most students and certain topics such as related rates which involve word problems have been identified as a particular source of such difficulties. This talk will present an intervention applied with the hope of reducing student difficulties in one particular step (the differentiation step) of the solution process, found to be caused mainly by misconceptions about the chain rule. An additional research lesson involving the application of chain rule to find rates of varying quantities was conducted in two sections of freshman calculus students as a prelude to the related rates topic and the effect of this lesson on problem solving in related rates was measured against a control section. Results show that students who went through this research lesson demonstrated an enhanced performance in the differentiation step. The talk will also provide an overview of the current research on all seven steps of the related rates problem solving process.
Location
Room 2905
Recommended Citation
Bhatia, Kavita and Premadasa, Kirthi, "Calculus Blues: Unlocking Mysteries in Related Rates" (2012). SoTL Commons Conference. 36.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2012/36
Calculus Blues: Unlocking Mysteries in Related Rates
Room 2905
Calculus is a challenging course for most students and certain topics such as related rates which involve word problems have been identified as a particular source of such difficulties. This talk will present an intervention applied with the hope of reducing student difficulties in one particular step (the differentiation step) of the solution process, found to be caused mainly by misconceptions about the chain rule. An additional research lesson involving the application of chain rule to find rates of varying quantities was conducted in two sections of freshman calculus students as a prelude to the related rates topic and the effect of this lesson on problem solving in related rates was measured against a control section. Results show that students who went through this research lesson demonstrated an enhanced performance in the differentiation step. The talk will also provide an overview of the current research on all seven steps of the related rates problem solving process.
