![]() Since the blue line making up the base of the tree is only a line segment, we need to restrict the domain of the function to appropriately control its bounds. The second step was to begin exploring domain. Students learn at different paces and technology can be an incredible tool to help differentiate the classroom. Trial and error is an important part of the learning process. In an exploration, students should feel safe. Pear Deck keeps these results anonymous, a point that’s very important to me. The problem that we typically run into when reviewing work on the board is that a student might feel ashamed of an incorrect answer. This enables the teachers to talk through why a certain answer is incorrect and to immediately address popular misconceptions. There is great benefit in reviewing and discussing the results of the whole class. After all students had submitted a response, we displayed the results of the class on the projector. Using Pear Deck, students saw this image on their laptops and individually typed in their responses. We began with something easy, the horizontal line pointed out in the screenshot below: We used Pear Deck to engage all students in the initial exploration-how do you write the equation of various line segments (lines with a restricted domain)? Pear Deck is a teacher presentation tool that allows for real-time formative assessments, so it was the perfect thing to engage students in the process of discovering how to write these equations. Though they couldn’t have completed the activity on their own, by guiding students through an active step-by-step exploration, they were able discover how to apply prior learned knowledge to execute the task at hand. To complete this task, students needed knowledge beyond what they had learned. Students were only provided the equations for the stem of the tree (shaded grey). The above is a screenshot of a completed activity, with all equations correctly written. The ultimate goal for this exploration was for students to come up with equations for all line segments making up the holiday tree below: Going into the lesson, students already knew how to graph a line given its equation, but they had only just begin working the other way around-to write an equation given the graph of a line. As you read through the activity students completed, you’ll see how tech enabled students to visualize the process of writing linear equations and also required the participation and attention of every student in the classroom. My goal was to incorporate technology to create a healthy sense of competition and collaboration among students. Since students would be completing this activity the day before winter break, we decided to give it a holiday theme. One of my colleagues (Jeff Bellestri) and I teamed up to create an engaging and fun way to teach 9th grade Algebra 1 students how to write equations of lines. ![]() ![]() Preview of Desmos portion of activity where students use movable points to visualize how to write equations of lines Please feel free to copy/modify and use with your classes. You’ll find the Pear Deck we used at the very end of this blog post. This activity teaches students how to write equations of lines with a restricted domain. I’m excited to share this really successful activity – perfect for Algebra 1 students! You’ll see in the below writeup how using Desmos and Pear Deck made this difficult task not only doable but also fun.
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