Activity Overview
Students explore curve fitting and translations of the parabola.
Before the Activity
Show students a picture of the St. Louis Arch. Discuss the shape and how the parabola is sometimes used to approximate the shape.
During the Activity
Each student should submit an equation to fit the curve of the St. Louis Arch.
The teacher should clear the activity data and click on one of the arrows above, below or to the sides of the grid. Have students submit new equations. Discuss and repeat as nessessary.
After the Activity
Review student answers:
As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary