Cornelius of Great Oak High School, it was a week’s. For the students, it involved concrete mastery of standards, conceptual understanding of several topics, higher order thinking skills, student autonomy and intellectual need. Let’s be honest, after that one lesson they weren't loving piecewise functions yet. This lesson on graphing conic sections rocked on multiple levels. A blank graph screen for their project A screen to describe their project Two Reflection screens for after the project was finished. Thanks to Desmos’ ability to save graphs for users to return to later, his students were able to begin their projects in the classroom, but then really let their ideas fly.
Then I had my kids dive right into piecewise functions with a project. Project Instructions Screen A link to Learn Desmos so they can use more advanced equations Example screens that taught them how to restrict and color their graphs (and more) for them to examine and play with. Last week we received a note from Bob Lochel, a Philadelphia teacher who combined Desmos, a conics lesson, and his students’ creativity in an artistic Algebra II project. Therefore, I created a lesson that clearly covered those three areas. Throughout the process, I learned about architecting, building, and iterating such a huge project with a focus on performance. This graph is the culmination of months of tough design designs, trade-offs, and hard work. The graph also updates on every keystroke, helping students make connections across multiple representations. Users can always see the expression list and graph side by side.
Marble slides (a game where students type in an equation for a graph and the. In addition to being easier to use, the Desmos graphing calculator makes learning mathematics more visual with its clean interface. In the past, I had just focused on graphing them and assumed that if students could do that, then they could do anything with piecewise functions. I drew inspiration for this project from one of my favorite works of art: the Desmos Graphing Calculator itself. Desmos has many well-made math activities (pre-calculus and calculus). I did some research and decided to make sure I covered how to evaluate, graph, and write the functions. A couple of years ago I decided to seriously take a look at how I could teach piecewise functions best.
I wasn’t prepared, I did it fast, and the results were not great. That’s how I use to teach piecewise functions. You know when it’s raining out and you forgot your umbrella? What do you do? Well, you run as fast as you can to your car, and as soon as you get in you take a deep breath and think, I made it!.but I’m pretty wet. I use to despise teaching piecewise functions.