Information for Instructors

The Calcvids videos are based on research about student thinking and learning about calculus concepts. They leverage the idea of quantitative reasoning (described below) and present concepts from a quantitative, rather than a geometric focus (described below).

The videos are designed to be compatible with all calculus curricula. Although you can incorporate any subset of the videos into your class, there is a core set (described below) that develop the central quantitative ideas that we recommend you use.

There are numerous resources available for instructors on this website.

Information about the Concepts and Videos

• A flowchart that shows the core videos and the relationships between the concepts in the videos
• A description of the key concepts, terminology, and notation used in the videos.
• A description of the theory of quantitative reasoning, which is a central component of our video design and course structure
• A description of how quantitative reasoning is used in calculus
• Additional information about quantitative reasoning:
  • A description of the concept of quantitative reasoning by Michael Tallman
  • A paper by Pat Thompson that describes all of the technical details of quantitative reasoning
  • A paper by Moore, Carlson, and Oehrtman that provides an example of using quantitative reasoning to describe students’ thinking about precalculus problems
• A description of intellectual need-provoking tasks that we have created to support instruction

Instructional Resources

• Suggestions for Incorporating Videos into Instruction
• Versions of the materials that can be directly imported into various learning management systems (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard, etc.)
• Powerpoint Files you can use to create your own versions of the videos
• Additional homework problems you can assign to your students
• Intellectual Need-Provoking Tasks you can use for in-class problem-solving and discussion

Support

• You can contact any member of the research team at any time:
  • For most questions, contact Aaron Weinberg (aweinberg@ithaca.edu)
  • For questions about quantitative reasoning or other mathematical/learning theory, contact Michael Tallman (michael.tallman@okstate.edu)
  • For questions about the Geogebra animations we use, contact Jason Martin (jasonm@uca.edu)