Exciting Sack Race Activity for the PC or Mac
This is our first "performance" activity. Its primary focus should be on slope as rate of change and piecewise functions. This activity allows exploration of multiple types of slope; i.e., positive slope, negative slope, or zero slope for students to build their understanding of varying rate. This activity also allows for exploration of intersections of linear functions leading to an understanding of solutions to systems of equations. There is no one correct answer to this activity and students should focus on what conditions determine a correct answer. This activity will not create a class collection of functions that have a pattern or create a “nice” picture. Students’ creativity will set the tone for the discussion. You may choose specific students to display their graph and discuss their story one at a time. You want students to pick out the correlation between the action and the function. For example, if someone reads a story where their Actor stops, there should be a segment with a zero slope. Students will be excited to share even when their stories are incorrect, be sure to encourage a positive environment for corrections.


Requirements:
Class set of PC/Mac Computers
Teacher Computer (PC/Mac)
InFocus Projector
SimCalc MathWorlds™ Software for the Computer (PC or Mac platform depending upon the type of computer used)


Download the Sack Race Unit for the Computer (384 KB)


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