Teaching Vocabulary - Cocktail Party (not sure if this is appropriate even though its only punch or soda)
This is how it goes. Every student will choose a word/phrase from the vocab group. As an example, words associated with quadrilateral functions are: parabola, vertex, minimum, maximum, solutions, roots, x-intercepts, height, etc. Students will define the word, provide examples, etc. After 10 minutes, move the chairs to the side, all students will go around standing up and mingling with at least 7 people. They will introduce each other as their chosen word. Example: Hello, my name is parabola, what's yours? What do you do? Well, my job is to ensure that the basketball or any ball travels from one place to another, etc. Students are to switch partners every 5-7 minutes. At the end, students will sit down and summarize the words and definitions tey learned.
Some things the teacher can provide - a list of words on the overhead and a table of small snacks such as pretzels or chips in a bowl, napkins and soda in small cups. The words must be the group associated with the topics.
The activity should be a summarizer, rather than an intro - preferably before a test - so do this at the end of a unit. Students should get credit for their summaries - like a mini project. Post their summaries on the board as reminders of their activity.
Twists to the cocktail:
- one student can 'perform' or act out their summaries
- another can rap their summaries
- another can just talk about it or their experiences
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Videos on YouTube
I found some cool sites to teach quadratic functions and parabola so I created a powerpoint that included videos and photos as a model for students to create their own power point as homework.
I used a combination of (a) objects that are easy to spot and are shaped like parabolas such as buildings and (b) trajectories and movements in sports.
My project was so successful because it was easy to make and something they can relate to. Examples of their project included trajectories of a basketball being thrown, a football being kicked, a cannonball, extreme sports trajectories such as motorbikes, bikes, skateboards, snowboards. They also showed the formation of an iceberg cave resulting from wave action as well as the handles of handbags (the shape of shoulders are parabolic) and shapes of the eye and lips (beauty projections).
I used the sports trajectories a lot because the word problems involved a lot of balls being kicked or thrown. It was easier to explain that solutions of parabolas meant the ball touching the horizontal ground or x-axis. I guess what goes up must come down due to gravity.
I found some cool sites to teach quadratic functions and parabola so I created a powerpoint that included videos and photos as a model for students to create their own power point as homework.
I used a combination of (a) objects that are easy to spot and are shaped like parabolas such as buildings and (b) trajectories and movements in sports.
My project was so successful because it was easy to make and something they can relate to. Examples of their project included trajectories of a basketball being thrown, a football being kicked, a cannonball, extreme sports trajectories such as motorbikes, bikes, skateboards, snowboards. They also showed the formation of an iceberg cave resulting from wave action as well as the handles of handbags (the shape of shoulders are parabolic) and shapes of the eye and lips (beauty projections).
I used the sports trajectories a lot because the word problems involved a lot of balls being kicked or thrown. It was easier to explain that solutions of parabolas meant the ball touching the horizontal ground or x-axis. I guess what goes up must come down due to gravity.
How do students understand functions?
When I was studying Multiple Intelligence, I read that people learn to understand by first visualizing what's going on - they want to see the big picture in simple terms that they can relate to. The simpler, the better. So with my students, I always think of how I can help them see the big picture. I think of it as concept building.
So with functions it was the use of lines and a ruler and being able to deciper whether a graph is a function or not. They did okay, but I think that next time, I will make them create a 1-string guitar in a 5 x 8 notecard. Make sure you prepare a bunch of lines - diagonal, horizontal, vertical and a combination of these lines in mini-xy plane. You can 6 in a regular white sheet of paper - have the students cut each one and have them insert it through the 1-string guitar. During this activity, students will describe the # of points touched by the string and make conclusions about whether they are functions or not.
After they are able to visualize the graph, then they need to see the numerical patterns of tables of functions and non-functions.
Another good example is the use of mappings. This will also help them understand the meaning of domain and range.
Examples are important. So its always good to show examples of 1-1, 2-1 and 1-2 partnerships between domain and range whether they are points on a graph, tables or mappings.
Hey, if you have a strategy on teaching functions, please post. Thanks.
Functions are basic all throughout algebra. When I was teaching them quadratics, I went back to their vertical ruler test to show that parabolas opening to the left or right are not functions. The same goes with absolute value functions and vertical step functions.
When I was studying Multiple Intelligence, I read that people learn to understand by first visualizing what's going on - they want to see the big picture in simple terms that they can relate to. The simpler, the better. So with my students, I always think of how I can help them see the big picture. I think of it as concept building.
So with functions it was the use of lines and a ruler and being able to deciper whether a graph is a function or not. They did okay, but I think that next time, I will make them create a 1-string guitar in a 5 x 8 notecard. Make sure you prepare a bunch of lines - diagonal, horizontal, vertical and a combination of these lines in mini-xy plane. You can 6 in a regular white sheet of paper - have the students cut each one and have them insert it through the 1-string guitar. During this activity, students will describe the # of points touched by the string and make conclusions about whether they are functions or not.
After they are able to visualize the graph, then they need to see the numerical patterns of tables of functions and non-functions.
Another good example is the use of mappings. This will also help them understand the meaning of domain and range.
Examples are important. So its always good to show examples of 1-1, 2-1 and 1-2 partnerships between domain and range whether they are points on a graph, tables or mappings.
Hey, if you have a strategy on teaching functions, please post. Thanks.
Functions are basic all throughout algebra. When I was teaching them quadratics, I went back to their vertical ruler test to show that parabolas opening to the left or right are not functions. The same goes with absolute value functions and vertical step functions.
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