| This is a whole-class "performance" activity. The activity requires students to determine their motion by defining a linear function. Students are assigned groups and provided group and count-off numbers to determine their initial starting positions, velocities, and durations. The end result: a whole class race with students starting at their count-off numbers, traveling the same velocity, for the same duration. The goals are, mathematically, to build a sense of slope as rate of change, y-intercept as initial position, simultaneous conditions as reflected in equivalent equations and coinciding lines, parallelism as equivalent slopes (velocities) and different y-intercepts (starting positions) and the general idea of modeling using linear functions. The student’s linear function becomes his identity and defines his motion as either the same or different from other students in the class. Pedagogically the goals are to engage the students personally with their
mathematical work and its interactions with their classmates’ mathematical work. |
