I wrote this worksheet for my precalculus/IB students to summarize their earlier observations regarding how to find the derivative of a polynomial function.

Disclaimer: This is not a formal or rigorous treatment of the concept: the power rule strictly refers to the derivative of a monomial in a single variable; however, my students have had no problem with the concept that "the derivative of a sum is the same as the sum of the derivatives," so I didn't include this formality.

I use this activity within cooperative groups, and I circulate to make sure they are getting the purpose of the questions.

The file includes spiral review problems.

For this worksheet, I expect students to show their work on a separate sheet of paper.

Please download the pdf preview file first, so you can see exactly what's included; the product file is a word document, which you may personalize for your students.

Keywords: derivative, calculus, derivatives, differentiation, Jonnard