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Key Features of Polynomials

 


After teaching for seventeen years, I have always found students struggle with domain, range, increasing and decreasing. I have also struggled trying to find different ways to teach the concept. Since math came easy to me, I just understood those concepts; however, students really struggle to see what I see. :) This year, my students are finally "getting" the concept of domain and range. For domain, I told the kids that there was a man walking the x-axis looking up and down. Where does he start to see the graph? Where does he stop seeing the graph as he is walking the x-axis? Same for range...a little guy is climbing up the y-axis looking left and right. Where does he start to see the graph? Where does he stop seeing the graph as he climbs? It isn't perfect, but I think the kids got it. As for increasing and decreasing...I told the kids to find the min and max first. Thank God for Desmos! :) I told them to label the x-value for min and max on their graphs. Then I treated it like a rollercoaster...when are you riding up the roller coaster? When do you start? When do you stop? When are you falling on the rollercoaster? When does that start? When does that stop? I think I finally got them to see! Yay! Only took me seventeen years. :)

So for practice, I gave them this Google Slides activity. They must type in their answers. It was great since we are hybrid right now! I used the Canvas Google LTI tool so each student received a copy. I really love using this external tool! 

The activity is below: 

Key Features of Functions

~RJ



Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 4, 2021 at 11:48 AM

    This is great! My students really struggle with this as well so I will definitely be using these explanations!! Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. girlmathx2February 11, 2021 at 5:31 PM

      Thanks! I hope you find success like I did! :)

      Delete

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