Lesson Plan: Interpreting Graphs of Derivatives
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to connect a function to the graphs of its first and second derivatives.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- use a graph of a function to describe the behavior of the first and second derivative of the function at different points along the graph,
- describe the gradient, local extrema, and concavity of the graph of a function using the graph of the first or second derivative of the function.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the concepts of increasing and decreasing segments of a function, local maxima and minima, and concavity.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- performing calculations with functions in order to describe the gradient, local extrema, or concavity of the function.
