I am looking at the end of a quadratics chapter, the end of the year, the end of distance learning, and the end of 9th grade before summer. A normal assessment does not feel like the right thing to do. But I want to do something to culminate the end of the unit. Enter the end of chapter projects. I decided on 3 diverse projects that require knowledge about quadratics. Students get to pick which project they will do based on their interest. I am hoping I have given a diverse enough selection that all the students will be able to find interest in at least one of them. I am sharing them here for anyone that would like to use them with their students. String Art: I love the parabolic curve string art. The use of straight lines that create a curve is beautiful. But first I want them to understand what that design has to do with parabolas (it isn't completely obvious). In the 9th grade algebra class, I do not teach them about the focus and directrix of a parabola. So this project starts with a small lesson about that. I used a quick video from Khan Academy. I also used an idea from Sarah Carter's blog to have the students create a wax paper parabola. See here for her post. After that, it is a matter of teaching them the basics about creating a parabolic curve and then let them get creative. Below is my favorite recent creation and the link to the project I am giving my students. Catapult: When I have had time, I have had my students create a gummi bear catapult in class and then find the equation of the trajectory of the flight of the gummi bear. It has been a fun project in school, and I am hoping it is something students can do at home. The set up is pretty simple. First, they need to create a catapult with supplies they have or supplies I get to them through our delivery system during distance learning. In the google slides, I include a quick video to give them a couple ideas for creating their own catapult. Second, they need to collect data, with the help of another person or two. Third, they will use Desmos to create the quadratic regression. I include instructions for how to do this since they have done it for linear regressions, but not quadratic. Below is a link to the project I am giving my students. Desmos Words: Earlier this year, after our linear unit, I assigned an optional project where students did linear Desmos art. Some of my students really got into the project and gave me some great art! I wanted my third project to follow along those lines (pun intended). I struggled with what to have the students create in Desmos. I had a few students figure out that they could google Desmos art and get an already completed project to turn in as their own. Since they were working in class, I caught it pretty quickly. But now that I will not be able to observe them working on it, I am worried about the originality of their work. I decided to have the students create their name or a favorite phrase out of lines and parabolas. Hopefully this will be original enough that they won't be able to use someone else's work. We dabbled a little bit with transforming quadratics in the unit, but not enough to assess on it. So the beginning of the project is to have the students go back to the Desmos activity and reacquaint themselves with it. There are many activities out there, but I am particular to "Quadratics Graphing Lab" from Mrs. Turpin. I modeled the instructions after a Desmos Name Project I got from Dianna Hazelton. Each letter has to be constructed according to the alphabet chart. They also have to do a minimum of 8 letters. Below is a snap of the example I created for my students and the link of the project. I won't be giving this to my students for another week or two. I am hoping they will be a success and much more enjoyed than an assessment. Please feel free to use any of them in your classes.
My next task is to come up with projects for my juniors to do to finish their sequence unit.
6 Comments
5/3/2020 06:33:13 pm
I absolutely love this exploratory/journal writing approach for students to demonstrate their mathematical knowledge (of parabolas). It is, IMO, so much more worthy than an end-of-unit test. That the assessment utilises practical, low-tech and IT, hi-tech resources is brilliant. Whilst it appears this approach is being used as a distance-learning strategy I see no reason why it cannot also be applied and utilised in ordinary, everyday contexts.
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12/11/2022 07:28:21 pm
Uygun fiyatlardan takipçi satın al: https://takipcialdim.com/
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12/17/2022 12:48:41 pm
takipci satın almak için tıkla: https://takipcim.com.tr/
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AuthorI teach mathematics for grades 7-12. Teaching mathematics is my passion. Archives
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