PRECALCULUS - new in 2023

Lawrence Yee
yeel@esuhsd.org
Lawrence Yee is a mathematics educator with fifteen years of experience teaching all levels of high school mathematics and is currently the Mathematics Curriculum Coordinator for the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, California. He started teaching AP Calculus AB in 2009 and helped grow the AP mathematics program at the Title 1 urban public school he taught at for over 12 years by introducing AP Statistics, AP Calculus BC, as well as AP Seminar. Lawrence has served as an exam reader for the AP Calculus AB and BC exams since 2020.
 
Through his involvement with the National Math + Science Initiative in various roles, Lawrence works to improve student equity, inclusion, and access to STEM opportunities and increase achievement in Advanced Placement courses among students underserved, underrepresented, or disadvantaged socially or economically. He is a four-time Yale National Fellow through the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools where he authored four curriculum units to support student learning of topics including arithmetic sequences, rates of change, word problems, combinatorics, and statistics.
Tentative Agenda
  
With the new AP Precalculus course, more students have the opportunity to earn potential college credit or placement in mathematics for a course they are already currently taking. Participants will spend the duration of the APSI familiarizing themselves with the Course and Exam Description (CED). Each day will focus on one of the four units that comprise the AP Precalculus course. Throughout the week teachers will be engaged in a variety of activities, practicing teaching strategies, designing or modifying existing teaching resources, and strengthening their content knowledge to best support all students who will be taking the AP Precalculus course.
 
Objectives:
• Participants will become familiar with the information and resources found in the new AP Precalculus Course and Exam Description
• Strengthen content knowledge pertaining to the topics covered in AP Precalculus
o   NOTE: The following agenda lists possible topics that will be reviewed. Adjustments will be made based on participant feedback during the APSI.
• Plan for teaching the new AP Precalculus course
• Share existing teaching strategies
• Modify existing resources to the new course
  
Materials:
• Participants should bring the graphing calculator that will be used with their students.
• Copy of the current precalculus textbook (physical or electronic) being used in their school
•Laptop/Computer
Day 1: July 24
• What is AP Precalculus?
• Introduction to the Course and Exam Description (CED)
o   Understanding what is included (and not included) in AP Precalculus
• Mathematical Practices & Skills
• Unit 1: Polynomial and Rational Functions
o   Rates of Change
o   Limit Notation
o   Modeling
• Graphing Technology
  
Day 2: July 25
• Overview of the AP Precalculus Exam
• AP Classroom & AP Daily
• Unit 2: Exponential and Logarithmic Functions
o   Arithmetic & Geometric sequences
o   Modeling with Data
o   Semi-log Plots
• Adapting existing resources for AP Precalculus
• Planning time
  
Day 3: July 26
• Unit 3: Trigonometric & Polar Functions
o   Sinusoidal modeling
o   Equations and identities
o   Polar functions and graphs
• Practice Exam Questions
• Syllabus development and planning time
  
Day 4: July 27
• Unit 4: Functions Involving Parameters, Vectors, and Matrices (optional content)
o   Determining what topics to include
• Sharing of resources modified to meet the CED expectations
• Recap of the AP Precalculus course
• APSI Evaluation