Secondary Math Spotlight
Mrs. Elliott @ Summer Creek Middle School
About Mrs. Elliott's Graphing Activity
The objective of the activity was "students will create a slope roller coaster using given points and slopes to graph lines".
The skills the students use for this activity include plotting points on a coordinate grid, using slope to create a line from a given point, understanding types of slope (positive, negative, zero, and undefined), and how slope tells you rise and run and how to use that to graph a line.
The activity starts with students being given a set of instructions to use to graph their lines. Once they have successfully graphed all the climbs, drops, and platforms, they are allowed to use their creativity to fill in gaps with loops, curves, obstacles, etc.
Students are hard at work using points and slopes to drawing the platforms, drops, and climbs for their coaster. All students will have the same lines on their coaster.
Ms. Brown, the instructional coach at SCMS, visited class and participated in the activity
Students got creative with their coasters, filling in the gaps with loops, curves, and "interesting" features. Many made their coasters a bit on the gruesome side, but they enjoyed making their coasters and were proud of their final projects.
If you are doing some fantastic things in your classroom, please let me come see! I would love to share with the group.
Thank you Mrs. Elliott for sharing your classroom with us.