Girl Math

... And another successful GooseChase ! If you're like me, I have a lot of students who really need to move; sitting at a desk for 90 minutes is excruciatingly painful.  I mean, I cannot stand a long meeting where I'm not engaged.  Check out how many teachers are on their cell phones at your next faculty meeting.  Wow.   Yes, I got off-topic (I'm not so different from my students 😁).  Anyhoo, a GooseChase works wonders for those who love moving around and making an adventure out of anything.  I begin with a warm-up of properties of parallelograms .  Students are already in their groups (for this class, I chose the groups- some classes, I let them choose).  After the warm-up, I give them the instructions and problems for the activity.  Once I have checked their work (all problems must be correct before they can begin their missions), I give them a hallpass and hope for the best!   The students REALLY love doing a GooseChase!  Even the craziest classes are appreciat

You may already be using this project on confidence intervals for means, " Read Any Good Articles Lately ?"; if you use TPS4, odds  are you probably do (too corny?).  I just find it very insightful into what interests my students have.  Sometimes, when I'm checking their article for appropriateness and requirements, I can't stop reading it!  And other times... I'm not very amused. I have adjusted my project to meet more of my expectations and my students' needs, but I think it is pretty close to the original.  Here's the breakdown: Students must find a long article online. (I used to make sure it was a "trusted source", but those readings were so boring.  I mean, The Onion isn't trusted, but it's hilarious!) Then they must randomly select a paragraph (I require proof of randomization) and create a table or spreadsheet with the length of the first 100 words. Students will create histograms and discuss the distribution- a great revi

Breakouts are so much fun for my students and for ME! Not only are all students engaged, but the way that they communicate is amazing. The conversations about math as I walk around the room make my math heart so proud! :)  Probability is the topic of this physical breakout. Topics include mutually exclusive, mutually inclusive, independent events, experimental, and binomial probability. I can share the majority of the breakout resources, but some are protected by paid versions. I have tried to make notes about what you need in case you want to try a similar activity.  My colleague had some red MIRAs laying around. I had seen someone use the Hide 'n See app which creates hidden messages that can be seen with the app. However, the MIRA works great too! When the students walk in all they have is the BreakoutEDU box, the MIRA and the color "hide-a-gram". Each group gets a different hidden message that directs them to a different location around the room where they will

I have found numerous normal distribution activities involving people's heights. I decided to take everything that I have seen and create a HyperDoc. Before this activity, I had not discussed normal distribution. This was an opportunity for my students to investigate and discover on their own.   Before I shared the HyperDoc with the students, I presented the first slide:  I had the students measure heights (inches) of each group member. Using painter's tape, I created a huge number line where the students stood by their height - thus creating a human dot plot. It was a little tight - I should have spaced out my tick marks a little more. Oh well, there's always next year. :) I mainly did the human dot plot to cancel out any errors while measuring. Some of my students were a little off and this corrected the issue.  I had a blank dot plot on the board where students had to plot their height. I made them take a picture and place it on the HyperDoc once they grabbed

Deck.Toys is so amazing- we love this tool! For this review on functions in precalculus, we utilized many of the features that Deck.Toys has to offer.  We thought the theme for "around the house" would be interesting to the students- so we went with everyone's nightmare: your mom is making you clean the house before you can take your nap.  We uploaded a photo of a floor plan and jumped right in!  Each room has a different adventure and the students had a blast- and of course, taught us some things along the way.  For instance, did you know that they could challenge each other in certain tasks?  Pretty sweet. The review itself contains tasks dealing with rational, polynomials, composite, and piecewise functions.  To begin, students must complete a Desmos card sort .  We actually found this PDF online and used it to create the card sort.  That's cool, right 😕  We actually used Desmos' Dashboard to ensure all groups correctly matched cards before allowing

Aren't stations fun?   For this Rational Functions Review, I had several different stations set up for students to complete.  I'm not going to lie, I stole many ideas that were out there!  Of course, the day wouldn't be normal if there weren't some glitches along the way... I had a card sort activity planned for Desmos at one station, but our internet was out- and so was this station.  It's okay, we had plenty to accomplish! I'm not sure what you consider to be a "large class", but I have 34 cherubs in this on-level NC Math 3 (Algebra 2) course.  I really don't like having groups bigger than 4 students which throws a pickle at me when there are only 4 workable stations.  My go-around?  Have the stations come to the students instead of students go to the stations.  I'm not sure if this completely contradicts calling this a Stations Review, but it works in my classroom and allows me to keep my groups to 4 students instead of 9 😉 Ration

Projects allow the students to show off their creativity and math skills! This one requires students to use Desmos to help create a polynomial function that fits a picture of their choice. As you can see with some of the projects below - the ideas vary immensely. Some of the students are very clever and others just use the McDonald's sign. However, each year, the students amaze us at what they find.  Instead of using their calculators - here's how Desmos will find the regression line. In my video, I just did a simple quadratic, but our students have to create a regression equation that requires at least 3 relative extrema.  Typically, we show the students how to use the Desmos regression option before sharing the project. Some students have trouble fitting the graphs because they choose too many points, and others are upset that it doesn't fit perfectly! We reassure our students that this is the best fit - not a perfect fit.  Once students have the regression

I've always loved Sarah Carter's Blog - Math = Love .  I have been following her for years. She always has such great ideas!   One night, when I should have been spending time with my husband and dogs, I was working (of course) and came across her post about Probability Bingo . I absolutely loved the idea, and I had to try it!  I did this activity as an introduction to probability of independent events. I wanted the students to really think about their choices before they knew the probability. So, I showed them the dice and explained that I was going to roll them together.  Students started to fill out their bingo cards. I didn't give much instruction, so some of my kids thought that if one event was called, they got to mark all of them off. HAHA! I also didn't tell them that they had to clear the entire board to win until after they finished creating their board. :) I loved the look on their faces when I explained the rules! It was priceless.  I had some

You may have noticed that we have a piecewise scavenger hunt for all levels of the classes we teach.  Well, I promise... they are all different!  Each version is intended to challenge that level of student/course and our activities get more rigorous as does the class. For the Pre-Calculus version, we upped our game.  All constraints involve an x-value of 2 and there are a mix of linear and quadratic functions for each card. Feel free to make a copy of this activity here . As with all scavenger hunts, we have groups of two or three students working together.  Cards are posted around the room, students begin at one card, flip it over and complete the task on the back.  Once they have an answer, they walk around the room until they find the card with that answer, and repeat this process until they are back to the first card.  The trick is avoiding loops.  The trickier trick is making copies of the functions upside-down on the back of the graphs.  Whew... that took a few trials!

Twitter is an awesome resource for teachers. There is so much information - I get a little overwhelmed at times.  However, while browsing the feeds one day, I came across a post about two truths and a lie on Desmos by Dan Meyer. Immediately, I was intrigued. In AP Calculus, I have my class do a TTL gallery walk, but one on Desmos…WOW! Here is  Dan Meyer's Blog  where he talks about all of his TTL activities. If you have any requests, just leave him a comment. In PC, my colleague and I are teaching our functions unit. How perfect - Dan has a rational functions TTL activity . Since this was our first one, we didn't know what to expect. However, it was easy and went really well.  Students start by making a challenge and create a rational function. The next screen allows students to generate two truths and a lie. Once students move through the challenge, they are asked which statement is a lie and must give a written explanation of why. (I love when students mu

Our district has a subscription to MathBits  where I find so many good ideas! I love this activity a s an introduction to probability ! I have 4 different stations - coin toss, spinner, die roll, and chips in a bag. To create smaller groups, I made 3 of the same 4 stations. I bought these huge magnetic spinners by mistake, but they work perfectly for this lesson. Right now, I just draw the spinner on the white board. Next year, I am going to get some posters made so that the sections are equally likely. For the chips, I found some old poker chips and used a sharpie to write A - E. The coin and die are self explanatory. :)  The students must find the experimental probability at each station with only 15-20 trials. The students start at one station and move around the room to each station. Once back to their original group, the students must use the Probability Simulator on the calculator to find the experimental probability with more trials for each station. Finally, the students must

Let's face it, sampling distributions can be a bit on the dull side.  So I spiced up my lesson with a scavenger hunt! There are 10 cards in this activity , and students can begin on any number, complete the task, find the answer on another card posted in the room, and repeat until they are back where they started.  The trick to creating any scavenger hunt is to make sure there are no breaks in the cycle.  I've actually had my students do one and they only got to 3 problems before it looped back to their starting point 😒 Nothing fancy with this activity, but it did allow my students to practice distinguishing between sampling proportions and sampling means.  There were some good discussions on why we can use a normal distribution even if the population is non-normal.  It was also a great time for them to get extra practice solving these problems.   Because my class is size 30 and there are only 10 cards, I made two sets of them with two different colors.  I assigned each

Working with my colleagues, we spent one Friday afternoon creating our very first Deck.Toys for PC. That gave me some inspiration to create one for my AFM class too. I mean - Deck.Toys is a much better way to review for our test!!!  I took my boring PowerPoint review and used those for multiple choice, text, and lock questions. Not only can I add in my own questions, I can also create study sets that allow students to practice vocab with interesting activities such as concentration and mazes just to name a few.  My particular Deck.Toys covers sampling techniques, samples, population, measures of center, measures of spread, and graphical displays of data - such as box plot, dot plot, histograms, and frequency tables.  Students start out with this... I know, I know...kinda dorky, but hey - I embrace it! They move through the board answering questions and performing activities. My students were SO excited to use a new platform. I even had some students ask if we could do more

Why do students hate factoring so much?  What is it that makes them swear they've never done it before?  We, as educators of Math 3 (or Algebra 2), know they've been factoring for years!  Alas, here comes the lesson on simplifying rational expressions.  And how does this happen?  By factoring, of course. Now, I don't have any magic tricks for teaching factoring, but I do take the approach of "slow and steady/baby steps".  And while some days I give an exit slip to check progress, I would prefer some sort of an activity.  Enter: The Row Game.  You can pretty much use this method of formative feedback for any math lesson, but using it for simplifying rational expressions is one of my favorites.   The instructions for row games look like this: Person A solves the problems in column A, while Person B solves the problems in column B. As you finish each problem, check your answer with the other person. The answers should be the same! If they are not, work together t

This is a quantitative survey project where my students must create a survey question, select a sampling technique, collect data, and find measures of center and spread.  I love this project because it requires the students to investigate and collect data on any topic. I feel that they take the project more seriously because they are able to pick a topic that they find interesting.  Even though, we have discussed sampling techniques and how to reduce bias, most choose convenience or voluntary response since they have to survey at least 50 people. However, they must examine their chosen technique and relate it to their data and any bias that may occur.  Because the project requires my students to collect data, I start off a week before with a survey proposal. I created a Google Form where the students must come up with 4 question options and basic information about their survey. I review the questions to make sure they will fit within the restrictions, and email each group

I have just recently found the amazingness that is Deck.Toys .  If you've not yet discovered this very user-friendly digital learning tool, I'll give you a breakdown of my experience. Though I will let you in on my secret: three of us got together and created our first one as a team.  I truly hope you have colleagues that collaborate freely at your school like we do here! Building a Deck.Toy starts with uploading a background.  It helps if you have a story line in your head first- I did not (but RJ did!).  Be prepared to create your own vocabulary study set; this is where many of the pre-loaded games pull from (for example, card sort, word search, matching, etc.).  You can also create hyperlinks to take you to outside resources such as Desmos, YouTube, G+, and so on.   I'm sure we all want our students to perform rich tasks, so there are times when we need an AP-like problem in our activities.  In order to do this, you can use the "Slides with Questions" pin.