"First, I traveled through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest..."
I loved this holiday-themed assignment I created a few years ago for my students to practice finding the slope of a line. But then the district changed the sequencing of our curriculum and I wasn't teaching slope until third quarter. This year we were wrapping up the Pythagorean Theorem just before winter break and I realized that I could modify this old slope assignment to practice using the Pythagorean Theorem to find distances on a coordinate plane. I think I even like this version better!
I am sharing a few versions of this assignment.
1. Slope Assignment
Version A asks students to plot points given the coordinates for each location on Buddy's journey. You have the option of giving students cardinal directions or ordered pairs to plot the points. Students then find the slope of each part of the journey.
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| Version A - cardinal directions |
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| Version A - ordered pairs |
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| Versions A and B slope calculation chart |
Version B allows students to plot points for each location wherever they want. Students record the coordinates for each point and then find the slope for each part of the journey.
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| Version B - student-designed route |
2. Pythagorean Theorem/Distance Formula Assignment
Version A asks students to plot points given the coordinates for each location on Buddy's journey. You have the option of giving students cardinal directions or ordered pairs to plot the points. Students then create right triangles and use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distances for each part of Buddy's journey (or you may choose to forgo the right triangles and have students use the distance formula).
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| Pythagorean Theorem version |
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| Distance Formula version |
Version B allows students to plot points for each location wherever they want. Students record the coordinates for each point and then create right triangles and use the Pythagorean Theorem (or distance formula) to find the distances for each part of Buddy's journey.
Which version should I use?
Use Version A if you'd like all students to do the exact same assignment - same calculations, same answers, meaning that you can create an answer key.
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| Version A |
Use Version B if you'd like students to have a bit more creative control, as they decide where to plot the locations of each stop on Buddy's journey. Grading this version will definitely take more time, and you'll want to instruct students not to plot all their points on the same horizontal/vertical line.
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| Version B - Student Sample |
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| Version B - Student Sample |
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| Version B - Student Sample |
I love this exercise, I'm going to do it this year in my class. I am from Colombia and I wanted to congratulate you for this work.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Thanks! I'm happy that you plan to use it with your class. I'd love to hear how it goes.
Deleteyo u got answer key
Deletei need an answer key. post one.
ReplyDelete