Today in class, we continued our presentations of different hands on activities, with the focus being on grade 10 functions. My first thought when I heard what class the presentations were for, was that they would probably have to stretch to make hands-on activities fit the curriculum. However, I was very pleasantly surprised! The first activity was for visualizing angles of depression, and different ways to represent 3D objects as 2D. Since most students find it very difficult to put a word problem into a picture (Including myself), I found this extremely useful! We used different colours of strings and had people stand at different spots, and different heights, in order to duplicate what the word problem said. Once students were set up, it was easy for the leader to point out where different angles were, and to transform the visual we were seeing onto paper. I was very impressed with how much it helped me to see what was going on, so I assume it would be very useful for students as well.
Another activity we did that I found very useful, was for trigonometry proofs. We had a bunch of rectangles to cut out, with various trig proofs on them. We then had to arrange these rectangles in order to prove the first one could be turned into the most simplified form which we put last. I always had trouble with trig proofs in high school, and I feel the one thing that got to me the most was always erasing or crossing out where I went wrong. I ended up using oodles of paper and getting continuously frustrated. However, with this method, if you get it wrong you can easily just change the orders of the paper, rather than starting ALL over! It was genius, and such a great way to practice.
For this same unit, we then got little squares which had proofs written on anywhere from two to four sides. We then had to rearrange these squares so that each proof matched to its corresponding proof. My group took forever, until we realized just like other puzzles, it is way easier to solve if you start with the border... oops! After many frustrating attempts we finally realized this, and started on the border. Eventually we completed it and felt very accomplished. I also think this was a great idea as it again let you practice without having to erase everything every time you went the wrong way.
All in all, I am finding the activities people are using in class are extremely good, no matter which topic they choose. I could see myself using every single one that I have seen. I am extremely glad that we have to do these presentations as by the end, I will have at least one great activity I can use in any math class I have to teach.
Do you have any great ideas for a high school math class???
Could you see yourself using any of the activities I have talked about so far?
That's all for now,
Miss Sydor
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