Let’s face it. Whether or not we love technology, our students sure do. They’ve grown up in a world that’s taught them that easier is better, and that the next cool gadget is all that matters. As future educators we can disregard this truth or we can embrace it. Racing Through Equations is an innovative and fun lesson to teach linear equations to high school freshmen in a way that they might actually understand.
In this activity students will be provided a problem about a bike race between two boys. After deriving equations for each of the boys’ movement, we can finally get to the fun stuff. Students will use the FluidMath App to model the race. FluidMath is an awesome free app that allows students to draw cars, assign equations to those cars, and then watch the cars that they drew race to the finish line. The number one benefit of FluidMath is it will provide the students with a visual. They no longer have to imagine a fictional race between two boys in their head, but they can watch the race unfold in front of them! Being able to watch the race will allow them to connect the equations they’ve derived to a visual aid. On FluidMath they’ll also be able to manipulate their equations to see how the race will change. FluidMath will allow students to create their own race, with their own variables, and then watch it happen.
Studies show that students crave interaction and participation in their learning, and FluidMath provides a great opportunity for that. Racing Through Equations is a lesson that uses FluidMath to reinforce linear equation concepts and addresses the following Common Core Math Standards:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSA.SSE.A.1 Interpret expressions that represent a quantity in terms of its context.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSA.CED.A.2 Create equations in two or more variables to represent relationships between quantities; graph equations on coordinate axes with labels and scales.