Skip to main content

Piecewise Scavenger Hunt (Math 3 Version)

You may be wondering... How is the Math 3 Version of the Piecewise Scavenger Hunt different than the AFM Version that RJ created?  Honestly, I doubt there is a difference, except in the approach with the students.  Anyone who has taught piecewise functions understands that the struggle is real - students truly have a hard time seeing the "pieces" of the function, so every little bit helps!

My colleague (and co-author of Girl Math), RJ, teaches piecewise functions at a level higher than the one I teach.  Therefore, she uses this activity as more of a review while my approach is more of a learning experience - trying to get the kiddos interested and collaborating with rich discussion (not that RJ doesn't share these goals!)  Anyway, can you really have too many piecewise resources?  Uh, no.

In order to create my graphs, I went to Desmos.  I can only assume that if you're reading a blog about teaching math, you already know the awesomeness that is Desmos.  Unfortunately, at the time of creating this activity, I did not know how to create open/closed circles where the graphs are discontinuous.  Oh well, we're always learning something new - and it's so much easier in Desmos than creating circles in a Word document (how antiquated, right?).

I hope you enjoy this activity, I truly think it helped my students get more comfortable with piecewise functions - not to mention translations in general.

~SSB



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Exponential Growth & Decay Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunts are always fun (and easy to grade). This particular one is all about applications of exponential growth & decay. My students seem to understand this topic really well, but I still wanted to provide more practice.  When I did this hunt originally, I created the cards with the answer on the front and the question on the back. Once I figured out how to copy and make it work, it was great because I could use the cards over and over again. However, they started looking old, and I lost some of the cards. So t his year, I placed the answer and question on the front. It made it so much easier to copy!  If you would like to try this in your class, here is a copy ! I included the solutions as well.  UPDATE: I created this activity and transformed into a remote version.  Remote Version: SE Scavenger Hunt               TE Scavenger Hunt ~RJ

Adding & Subtracting Rational Expressions Drag & Drop

Because Math 3 now has drag & drop on the final exam, students need the practice. So, I created one using Google Slides. It went over really well!  While this only took the students about 40-45 minutes to complete, it took me about 2 days to create this activity. Oh well, at least it is cute! :) I used Google Drawings to create the scene and took a screenshot of the drawing to post as the background in Google Slides. This worked so that students could only move the answers.  I created this for an Honors class and one of the problems (#5 - the one pictured) really stumped the kiddos. I loved it! They kept thinking that x - 1 was not part of the common denominator...they didn't realize that they needed to simplify after subtracting. It really made them think!   When they were finished, they shared it with me! I really think that this helped the kids get more practice on drag & drop while working on adding and subtracting rational expressions!...

Clue: Applications of Law of Sines/Cosines

A CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED - and my students are the detectives in this game of Clue. Since I don't give homework and practice is important - I try to find interesting formative assessments. Clue is perfect for this!  I hang all of the cards on the wall, and students must walk around answering multiple questions. Each answer corresponds to a name, weapon, or location. Once they get an answer - that suspect, weapon, or location has been eliminated. When they are finished with all stations, the blanks should reveal the who, where, and what.  While I make my kids show all work, this activity allows me to quickly evaluate if students comprehend the material. The students also enjoy figuring out who dunnit. In the past, the suspects were real teachers at my school, but then they would leave, and I had to change the names again and again. This time, I just went with generic names - but I think that the students were more involved when I used teachers that they knew. ...