Now is a good time to reflect upon the past year, and think about all of the professional growth I have made through the people whose ideas I have shared and experienced through the twitter-sphere and blog-o-sphere (are these actual words?), and to send thanks from all of the new math friends I have made. I took a look back at all of my posts from the previous year, and here are 5 great activities you can use tomorrow is your classroom. Share them, adapt them, expand upon them…it’s all good. Just pay it forward and share your best works, or leave a comment /contact me and let me know if you use them! Enjoy.
Conic Sections Drawing Project – this was the most popular post of the year. For algebra 2 or pre-calc, this project just got better with the Desmos online calculator, which is my favorite new tool of the past year.
Tapping Into the Addition of Bubble Wrap – bubble wrap, iPads, and slope meet for a fun exploration. Look at rate of change through student-produced data.
Tall Tales for Probability – Featuring the poker chip drawing game, and examples from the Amazing Race and craps. Probability should be fun. Make it so!
Let’s Play Plinko! – I have used Plinko as an introduction for binomial distributions for years, but in this presentation from last summer’s Siemens STEM Academy, tech tools like PollEverywhere and Google Drive are used to increase interaction.
Composite Functions and ESP – Use this activity with middle-schools and see if they can develop the pattern. For high school, have students write and justify their own ESP puzzles. Also features Doceri, another favorite new tool of mine, for iPad.
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