Math In Motion: Spring To Action & Follow the Bouncing Ball!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

Help me get students to see math in the world around them! I teach Algebra I and Algebra II to high school students, many of which come from under served communities. Our charter school holds high expectations of them, and they are highly motivated young adults.

But for them to receive the high-quality, college-preparatory education they deserve and desire, they should have access to the technology and learning experiences that will give them a taste of what college-level education can offer. My students need a math education that gets them out of their seats, allows them to make connections to other subjects (like science!), and generally gets them to see how math can help them understand the world around them.

The solution, in small part, can come from having a couple of calculator-based rangers (CBRs). These devices connect to the graphing calculators we already have, and measure and record real-world motion data, like distance, speed, and acceleration. I can use the CBRs to not only engage all my students in dynamic, activity-based learning, but all the while address California state standards. With the Algebra I students, we can do experiments with springs that explore Hooke's Law while learning how to graph linear equations, and we can track the motion of a free-falling object to learn how quadratic equations can apply to such physical situations. For the Algebra II students, I plan to have them use the CBRs to track the motion (rebound heights) of a bouncing ball. They can use the data from those heights to explore the topic of sequences and series, and even create authentic graphs for exponential decay functions. These devices can be used for years to come, and for a variety of projects and activities - what I've outlined here is just a sample.

Your help will give my students the ability to practice and gain skills in real-world data collection and interpreting those data. These are certainly skills they should have as college-ready students, and are skills that will continue to serve them well as adults after they graduate. Not only that, but you'll be helping me integrate some fun, activity-based learning into a math classroom!