Precalc Image
Precalculus
  • Curriculum: Precalculus with Trigonometry: Concepts and Applications (THIRD EDITION!) - by Paul Foerster   
  • Recommended Age: 11th – 12th grades
  • Prerequisites: Successful completion of Algebra 2. If student is new to Liftoff Learning classes, a parent meeting (and possibly a placement test) is required to confirm student’s level.
  • Course Length & Hours per Week: Course meets twice a week (1 hybrid class, 1 online class) for 32 weeks a year with regular and honors students together. Honors students meet an additional ½ hour per week.
  • Materials Required:
     - Precalculus with Trigonometry: Concepts and Applications (THIRD EDITION!) - by Paul Foerster   ISBN:978-1-60440-044-1  (I will provide the solutions guide to the homework.) 
     - WebAssign online homework access for 1 year - TBD (more information at the start of the class)
        - TI-84 calculator (color version preferred, but black & white version acceptable)
     - 3-ring binder and spiral notebook for homework
  • Course Description:  This course extends the beauty and elegance of geometry and the wonderfully useful math modeling of Algebra 2 into "cool" precalculus math including ultimately seeing how matrix transformations entered into a TI-84 can generate basic fractal images - the foundation of modern CGI movie scenes!    

    Precalculus covers a wide variety of topics in preparation for the world of calculus, including further analysis of Algebra 2 functions and matrices, trigonometric functions, conic sections, vectors, and polar coordinates.   This course incorporates aspects students find so helpful in Foerster's Algebra 2 book: exploration activities to open a chapter, meaningful and hugely helpful "Q" rapid review questions, wonderful real-world math model application problems, and well-integrated review & honors-level "concept" problems to wrap up a chapter.

    Weekly interactive "Launch Attempt" discussions are held to discuss challenging homework problems.  Additionally, to encourage peer interaction and discussion of algebraic problems, students participate in "multi-student problem sets" (MSPS) to discover mathematical solutions together.  In the spring, students complete a small project on relating precalculus to movies and/or motion to learn about the relevance of precalculus to students' interests.  Honor students address advanced problems and topics in the weekly "honors delta" time.  IXL, WebAssign, and TI-84 graphing calculators are used to reinforce and expand precalculus skills.  ACT/SAT review problems are assigned as time allows, with more assigned to honors students.  
  • High School Credit: 1 credit
  • Homework Expectations: Roughly 6 - 8 hours per week. Higher workload during test weeks and for honors Precalculus.   Homework consists of 1 - completing practice problems for the current lessons and immediately checking the solutions, and 2 - reading and completing notetakers of "concept questions" on upcoming sections prior to discussion in class.   Students complete “Warm Up” assignments in preparation for the first class. Grade is based on a combination of homework/participation, weekly quizzes done outside class, unit tests, and multi-student problem sets/small projects.
  • Class Size: Limited to 12 students