Learning Activities: Week 2

Having an engaging classroom is very beneficial for student learning.  I believe that this is especially important in a mathematics classroom.  Math often has a bad reputation for being boring, hard, or a subject that only people with “math brains” can succeed in.  I strongly believe that math can be fun and engaging for all students, and that every single student is capable of success.  Incorporating interesting lessons within a math classroom can help keep students engaged and improve their desire to learn.

Speed Dating and Equation Making

http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/
victoria-speed-dating-2014/

One of the math activities that we did this week in my course on Teaching Mathematics at the Intermediate/Senior Level was called Speed Dating and Equation Making.  For this activity, students sat in two circles: an inner circle and an outer circle.  Students would face each other so that each student on the inner circle was paired with a student on the outer circle.  Every student received a graph that had hearts on it.  In addition, each student on the outer circle obtained a card describing a specific slope, and each student on the inner circle obtained a card describing a specific y-intercept.  Each pair had to combine their information to create a linear equation in slope y-intercept form and then graph the line on the grid; if the line went through a heart, those two students were a match!  The inner circle then rotated, changing up the partners, to test for more matches.  This continued until students got back to their original partner.

I absolutely loved this activity.  I would, without a doubt, use it in my future mathematics classrooms.  I found it fun, engaging, and a very unique way to explore slope y-intercept form of a line.  One part I like about this activity is that it is repetitive.  Depending on the size of the class, students have to create many linear equations and graph them.  The repetition of this process helps students internalize their learning and remember it for the future.  I also think this activity would be useful in teaching students about parallel lines.  Since I was in the outer circle, I received a card with a slope on it.  All of my lines were parallel to each other.  This could help students realize that parallel lines have the same slope.  In addition, people in the inner circle had all their lines going through the same point (i.e. the y-intercept).  Another part of this activity that I enjoy is that it has the potential to be used for many different grades.  For example, this activity could be used for grade ten quadratic equations, possibly giving students the vertex of the parabola and a root.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/
details?id=beyou.app.dating

One thing I might add to this activity is having students prove (or double check) that they are a match.  This would allow students to make another connection between the graph and their equation.  Students would be required to plug in the point of the heart into their equation and show that the point does, in fact, lie on the line.  This could also be done if the line is very close to a heart and students are unsure if it is a match or not.  By substituting in the point, students can say for certain whether they are a match or not.  This game could also be made more difficult by giving students a slope and any point (not the y-intercept), or by giving students two points.  This would allow students to practice determining equations when given different information about the line.

I definitely plan on using this activity in my future mathematics classrooms.  It is a very unique and engaging activity that I believe students would really enjoy.  It definitely shows students that math can be fun!