Grade 9 Applied Lessons

CBR Motion Detector, Scientific Calculator,
Graph Worksheet

        The old saying goes.."You learn something new everyday" well today I learned something new in regards to technology used for math lessons. My colleague taught a lesson created for Grade 9 Applied class and she used a CBR. If you are like me you are thinking what the heck is that! Well it is a motion detector that connects to a scientific calculator which will display your motion in a graph. This was an introductory lesson to Rates of Change and I think it was a perfect activity to form a students understanding exactly what rate of change means. The package provided to each student clearly explained the steps for setting up the CBR and Calculator. Then the students were provided with 6 separate graphs and had to experiment with their motion patterns read by the CBR in order to re-create the graphs. This helped the students understand the difference between direction and speed. The next worksheet solidified their understanding of the same factors of a graph however they had to work in the reverse order. Thistime the motion of each graph was provided in words and students had to draw the graph based on the description. Now that the students comprehend the meaning of the graph, the teacher incorporated the rate of change formula and had the students calculate rise/run from the graph. I really enjoyed this activity and found the teaching order of the concept to be very effective. The CBR was an excellent tool to use and since this is actually an old piece of technology as is the scientific calculator, we had discussed whether they would create a connector that goes from the CBR to an iPad and the students can use the app for TI-83 or if eventually they create an app that records the motion and displays the graph.

         The other lesson of the night I wanted to share was a fun activity helping students solve for a variable x in an equation. To do this simple activity in your class all you need is mini whiteboards and whiteboard markers or if  you don't have mini whiteboards my colleague made a creative substitution by using clear document sleeves. After placing your students in groups of 4, you provide the entire class with an equation to solve and within each group a student will begin solving by writing down the first step. After the first step is done the student will pass on the whiteboard to the next student in the group who will complete the next step. This will continue until the group has isolated for the variable. what is excellent about this activity is that students have the opportunity to learn from their peers. If a mistake is made in one of the steps the next person will hopefully catch it and help the previous person fix it. This activity can be one of those fun math days especially when you make it a competition and the first group to correctly finish the equation will get a prize. I would definitely do this in my class because it achieves the same goal as providing the students with worksheets on worksheets of equations however it adds that element of excitement.