When designing a lesson, it is important to keep learning student-centered. This lesson is an example of how students are kept involved with the learning process as they are able to explore and interact with the content on their own. Furthermore, students can see the applications of the concepts at hand and begin to think about math in a bigger picture.

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In this lesson, students use a variety of resources to study and investigate quadratic functions. From photos, to videos, to worksheets, and to online activities, students are able to see quadratics presented in multiple forms as they begin to learn the key attributes associated with quadratics. Students also have opportunities throughout the class to collaborate with their peers through the Think, Pair, Share method as well as have whole-class discussions as they check for understanding. It is important that students have their voices and ideas heard, so finding time in the lesson for the students to communicate with each other is always a goal. 

 

It is also important to note that this is the first lesson of a new unit for the students. To help support students, references to the previous unit, factoring, is helpful for students to draw connections and build upon prior knowledge. By beginning the unit with a prompt that is familiar to the students and is open-ended, hopefully any anxiety or pressure concerning starting a new unit is eased. It is also helpful to familiarize students with some of these concepts in prior units.

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See Presentation or Lesson Plan for links and access to the resources associated with this lesson.