Activities

Math Man On The Slopes

Published on 01/24/2012

Students practice identifying slopes with informal pictures, and can self-check their understanding with one of the measurement tools.

Students will visually estimate slope by connecting slope to a man skiing down a hill to reinforce the difference between positive, negative, and zero slope. Then students are given a formation of the big dipper, which has different slopes. They estimate which slope fits which line.
Students are to change a line so that it has a given slope. They can visually estimate the slope first, and then use the rise/run triangle to specifically place the point. The teacher should follow up with a discussion on y-intercept and the equation of a line in slope-intercept form.
Students will asses their understanding of slope and y-intercept using self-check multiple choice questions in a provided on the worksheet or in a LearningCheck file.