susan m. johnson & kendall wahba greenville technical college greenville, sc
TRANSCRIPT
Fun and Engaging Developmental Math Activities
Susan M. Johnson & Kendall WahbaGreenville Technical College Greenville, SC
Session expectations
• Experience 5 great activities – and take them home!
• Consider how to apply them to a variety of classroom environments.
• Share ideas, strategies, and experiences throughout the conference via social media.
#1: The “Count the Vowels” Activity
Key topic taught: metacognition
Suggestions for use: Not graded, use as a warmup during the first week of class.
Materials: timer and method to project list of words Ready?!
Dollar Bill Dice Tricycle Four Leaf
Clover Hand Six-Pack Seven-Up Octopus
Cat Lives Bowling Pins Football Team Dozen Eggs Unlucky
Friday Valentine’s
Day Quarter Hour
#2: Journey to the Bus Stop
Key topics taught: Functions, graphing, modeling.
Prior knowledge required: Graphing equations in two variables.
Materials: Depends on how much time you have!
Every morning Tom walks from his home to a bus stop, a distance of 160 meters. The graph shows his journey
on one particular day.
Study the graph.
Could you write a short paragraph describing Tom’s walk to the bus stop?
A B
C
D
Match the Graph, Interpretation, and Data Table
#3: Factoring Competition
Key topics taught- factorization
Prior knowledge required- prime and composite numbers
Materials- copies of factor gathering table (or make own)
Be sure to play against the class for a few rounds!
Start by playing a few rounds with the class.
Team A is Kendall - Representing students
Team B is Susan - Representing the instructor
Team A chooses a number and gets the equivalent value in points. Team B gets points for any remaining
factors. Cross off the numbers gathered.
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26 27 28 29 30
Team A chooses #30 and receives 30 points…
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Team A Team B
30
Cross out the remaining factors. Team B receives this total in points.
1+2+3+5+6+10+15 = 42pts
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Team A Team B
30 42
Now it is Team B’s turn to start. Let’s say they choose #29. Now
their point total is 71 (42+29).
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Team A Team B
30 42+29
=71
Team A will not receive any points because the only remaining factor of 29
is 1 and it has already been crossed off!
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
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16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25
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Team A Team B
30+0 42+29
=30 =71
Team A will not receive any points because the only remaining factor of 29 is 1 and it has already been
crossed off!
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30
Team A Team B
30+0 42+29
=30+25
=71
=45
#4:Artifacts in Mathematics -
Sharing & Social Media A fun way to spur
conversations about math! Grading suggestions:
varies Materials: computer/mobile
device, internet access, membership to a social media site, and/or online discussion board access.
Ideas Articles Pictures Quotes Jokes
Shopping experience Construction Automotive Sports Games of chance Other ideas?
1. Facebook groups.
2. Social media linked back through class discussion board.
3. Others?
#5: Factoring the Code Prior knowledge required
o factor out the GCF from a polynomial o factor trinomialso factor binomials (diff. of squares and diff/sum of
cubes)o factor by grouping
Materials: copies of worksheet
Example: “Z” factors to be ). If the factor , or appears in the message, replace it with the letter Z.
Example: “Z” factors to be ). If the factor , or appears in the message, replace it with the letter Z.
I LOVE FACTORING AND MATH!