Activity Overview
Algebra 1 students investigate how the area of a dog yard changes based upon a fixed amount of fencing. The concepts presented are a nice introduction to working with quadratics.
During the Activity
Part 1 of this activity has students examining the possible arrangements of a dog yard using "chained" paper clips.
Part 2 of the activity extends this investigation to the TI-Nspire and a more in-depth look at what is happening.
A connection is made to the quadratic nature of this investigation.