After deciding to move to the problem based curriculum last year, I basically barely kept up with choosing the appropriate problems from the Exeter materials, adding some of my own, and typing up the questions. Keeping a more organized list of all the questions and making certain I was hitting all the necessary topics was more than I had time for. Fortunately I had taught Calc BC enough times before that so I had a pretty good idea that I was getting everything we needed. The results my students earned on the AP exam suggest I did a fairly good job. However, I still needed to be sure.
This summer I started going through all 425 problems in the packet and determining which topics and skills they addressed, and I just finished. It took me a lot longer than I planned, mostly because of other things – like life – intervening, but now that I am done I can fill in gaps, add in the extra practice and investigations, and generally prepare for class.
What I was excited about is that I really did address almost all the topics I had in previous years. I really only saw a few gaps – the biggest being in some applications to integration such as fluid force and pressure as well as Hooke’s law. I had perhaps a bit more review from the Calc AB curriculum than I originally intended, but I do not intend to cut too many of those problems. They provide a good intro to the way I am running the curriculum without forcing them to learn something new at the same time. There are problems I plan on swapping out though. All in all, I am happy with last year, and I am really looking forward to this year.
