2014 Blog 3 -

The week before fall break we did a two day in class alternative assessment with slope. The project was used to introduce the concept of slope. Students were split into groups of three or four. In each group students timed and counted the number of jumping jacks a student could do in a minute. The students did three rounds and averaged their jumps to remove bias. Students took their data and made a graph on a poster board. Students were given the bare minimum instruction for how to graph the data (as a class we already knew how to plots points and create a table from an equation). After students created their graph they had to answer a serious of questions related to slope and how they graphed the information. They wrote their findings in a report and ultimatly had to come up with a prediction the number of jumping jacks that would be completed in an hour based off the information in their graph. Students had a great time with the activity. If I were to do it again I would have students compare their group's graphs to other graphs to bring up deeper discussion about what the steepness/shallowness of a a line means.