The midpoint formula and the distance formula are introduced in algebra class. If students do not get a chance to discover how they are derived, they become yet another set of equations and processes to memorize. The activity below gives students an opportunity to discover the formulas or re-discover them. The Pythagorean Theorem is sprinkled [...]
Most geometry books start with the fundamentals which can be confusing for students because the math itself is so easy. After working through the abstractness that is algebra, when we ask students to perform some simple addition and subtraction they wonder, "What's the catch?". The initial focus is on "teaching the rules" of geometry and [...]
Terminology and Symbols The concepts of points, lines, planes, line segments, and rays are crucial for creating a great foundation on which to understand Geometry. The symbolism is particularly important. Geometry starts with three undefined terms - words with no formal definition but with a common agreement of what they are. A Point is a place [...]
One of the benefits of graphing calculators and graphing software is that it allows you to learn things about functions and equations that would have been tedious to explore via pencil and graph paper. Families of graphs is a concept that starts with a "parent" function or equation and asks you to compare "child" functions [...]
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What better way to show what you know about functions than to use them to create "art"? Here is a challenge for you. Go to Desmos.com and create a work of art that uses at least ten functions of which you must include one of each of the conics - a hyperbola, a parabola, an ellipse, [...]
Link students' experiences with functioning and malfunctioning pop (soda or Coke) machines to the definition of a mathematical function. Students quickly realize that someone will come fix the pop machine when it starts giving out extra sodas for a single input (malfunctioning). http://youtu.be/r6EjdtZZb9o
Build Your Own Kite.pdf contains a printable version of the graphic above for classroom use. How High is that Kite? can help start a discussion on flying kites. Similar Kites asks students to find the measurements for a smaller and a larger kite. In the video and photo from How High is that Kite? the kite's string was completely [...]
There is nothing quite like flying a kite on one of the first breezy days of spring. Is it possible to determine how high a kite is flying from a photograph? What would you need to know? If you were flying a kite, what tools could you use to determine its height? http://youtu.be/KknxRn6e9RA [...]
