WJHS+Algebra+9th+Grade

Algebra 1 is the mainstream course for 9th grade mathematics. I had the pleasure of helping with several sections of the class throughout each day while teacher assisting at Wyoming Junior High. An exploration activity I really enjoyed doing with this level was plotting different parabolic functions on the same graph and comparing why things were different or similar from graph to graph. Students seemed to understand a lot more about the effects of the numbers in the equation of the parabola and how that translates to changes on the graph. The sheet they worked on looked like this:



Students used their graphing calculators to compare their graphs with those the calculator produced. They also later made lists of what causes graphs to open up or down, be wide or narrow, etc. I really liked this activity because the students had practice graphing parabolas by hand, but I would like to look at other options on iPads where students could have the same sort of exploration.

If you'd like to see my experiences in WJHS's 9th Grade Geometry course, feel free to follow the provided link.