Activity Overview
Students take a field trip to a local ski area(or simply a nearby hill) and calculate the slope of a hill at several positions.
Before the Activity
Students should have access to the TI-84 Plus.
During the Activity
Students take a field trip to a local ski area(or simply a nearby hill) and calculate the slope of a hill at several positions. The horizontal and vertical components are calculated by using a string, line level and regular level. The rise over run is then calculated for each position and an estimate of the slope for that particular hill is then put in an equation in slope-intercept form(with the y-intercept as 0).
Students use "Activity Center" to submit an equation for each hill. Perhaps data can be collected for different degrees of slope. Students can submit questions and answers about the data collection that can be compiled in "LearningCheck™" for an assessment of the activity.
After the Activity
Review student results:
As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary