One of the hallmarks of the MTBoS is constant refinement and reflection – taking something of your own or someone else’s and making it better.
The conics unit has come and gone in my Algebra II classes, and like last year I want to do a performance assessment. Back in the day this assessment was Amy Gruen’s piecewise functions picture. With the advent of Desmos it’s now a digital version of the same project. (I wrote about last year’s here). Then in early summer I saw the tweet that let me know how much better my project could be for my students.
The searches have led to many hits to my conic sections art project blog post from last June. At my home high school, this is the second year we have done our long-standing conic sections art project using the Desmos calculaor, and this year’s submissions have raised the bar considerably. The most improvement has come from working with. For example, in pre-calculus, we study “conics,” which are circles, ellipses, hyperbolas and parabolas. I had students create art projects using only lines and conic sections. For the math standards, students had to find equations for each line and conic they used.
I am so stinking proud of my Alg students' @desmos projects! #mtbos#mathartpic.twitter.com/03gNDfEN7o
— Annie Perkins (@Anniekperkins) June 12, 2017
Dropping the image into Desmos first, then creating the equations to match the image? Brilliant! That led to a pretty productive online conversation, and to me making some slight changes to my plan for this year. My big takeaways from last year were:
- my students selected some very cool but also very challenging pictures to duplicate
- they needed massive amounts of support writing equations to match lines and curves
- probably not everybody did their own work
Providing massive amounts of support is what Desmos does best. That scaffolding probably means less frustration, and less cheating. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Started before break with a functions review (Alg II (3) Functions one-pager), not only of conics but of all the functions we’ve learned this year. The day back from spring break we learned how to match equations with lines or shapes in a picture with this Desmos activity.
Then I introduced the project, and offered a carrot (it’s a quiz grade, you guys!). And away they went, seeking pictures.
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They found standard-issue high-school-kid stuff: lots of cartoon characters, superhero or sports team logos, palm trees and flowers. I had them make a (rough) sketch of the image on grid paper, then try to identify equations of four functions that would be included in the final product. I wanted them to get used to the idea of seeing small sections of the larger whole, and finding ways to describe that section in math symbols. We also walked through the process of setting up an account in Desmos, opening a new graph and bringing in the image, and saving the graph so they could access it again.
By Day Two, we were ready to start getting serious about making some math art.
They were pretty excited about this project when they were googling around for images, finding their favorite characters or sports teams. They were less excited about this project when it came time to start writing equations.
Dearest Martha:
I fear a low-grade panic is setting in amongst the troops as they face the challenge of the Desmos Art Project. They are despairing of ever being able to write equations to match shapes. We are headed for crushing defeat unless I can rally them. #teacherlifepic.twitter.com/W07Xuac4K3
— Stephen Dull (@thedullguy) April 5, 2018
A couple wanted to straight-up quit. I’m gonna use all my powers of persuasion to try to convince them otherwise. That, plus walking through the process, step by-step, of writing a general equation, then adding sliders and tweaking values until the curve matched up. I’m not sure it helped.
I did notice that very few of my students actually completed the reference sheet. And (in a related story) almost none had any recall of any function equations except y = mx + b. That is definitely part of the issue – a huge disconnect between a shape on a screen and the math symbols that represent it. And truth be told, that’s part of what I wanted this assignment to do – to cement that relationship.
Best-laid plans, right? I’ve got some work to do.
The morning of Day Three, the putative due date, one of my struggling students came in for extra help on the project. She left with a smile on her face, having made serious progress. Plus she agreed to act as a “resident expert” in class, helping out her tablemates when they got stuck. We made some halting progress as a class, but no one is close to done. Several of my students did say that they understood how to write an equation for a line or curve, and restrict the domain, just that it was going to take a long time and a lot of tedious work. So, similar to last year, with about 10 minutes left in class I offered a reprieve, shifting the due date to Monday. Then I’ll accept whatever they have and go from there. I set up the grading rubric in such a way that the points are weighted toward planning and less on the finished product, so the kids who laid down a foundation can still get a reasonable grade even if their final product is…. incomplete.
But I also want to be able to show them what their project could look like, with a little bit of persistence:
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Just a little something I threw together over the weekend. 44 equations later…
The breakthrough for many came when they started to use vertex or intercept form for their parabolas. The ones who completed the functions reference sheet caught that first. I showed everyone on Monday, which of course was too late for many folks. Next year I’ll highlight that option earlier.
So, they begrudgingly turned in their paper/pencil planning work, along with a link to their Desmos creation, on Monday. Just like last year, some bit off way more than they could chew. Some got frustrated and quit. Some gave me a half-finished product. But the ones who stuck with it were able to turn in some pretty cool stuff:
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Oh, yeah, and this from a student as she turned in the assignment thru Canvas:
Dollar bill font. My big takeaways:
- I need to steer them towards reasonable images to duplicate. Avoid frustration and shutdown right from the jump.
- I need to encourage my students to use the vertex form of quadratics. Anything that makes the movement of the curve more intuitive is good. I think eventually that will help cement translation of functions.
- I need to enforce the preparation steps that I built in: the reference sheet, the paper sketch, and the four function equations by hand. I need to help them draw the connection between curves on a screen and the associated math symbols.
Conic Art Project With Equations Worksheets
The assignment is is a keeper. But I bet you it won’t look exactly the same three years from now as it did this week. In fact, I’m counting on it.
Conic Art Project Instructions Youtube
Project – art with conics conic sections are used in a wide variety of fields and are present in the world around you. you are going to use conic sections to create a work of art. this will require you to identify the presence of curves in familiar images and connect them to mathematical forms. the picture below is a very simple example. About press copyright contact us creators advertise developers terms privacy policy & safety how works test new features press copyright contact us creators. Project – art with conics conic sections are used in a wide variety of fields and are present in the world around you. you are going to use conic sections to create a work of art. this will require you to identify the presence of curves in familiar images and connect them to mathematical forms. the picture below is a very simple example. Precalculus conics flower project. you will be creating your own flowers incorporating at least one of each conic sections. your flowers must be of the assigned dimensions. the petals must be equally spaced around a base with a minimum of three layers. Feb 24, 2020 explore elyssa garner's board 'conic art project' on pinterest. see more ideas about cartoon characters, conic section, cartoon.
Conics Project With Equations
Conics Project Screencast Youtube
Mejar chandra kant mp3 songs. Title: conic art project examples author: guwp.gallaudet.edu 2021 05 15t00:00:00 00:01 subject: conic art project examples keywords: conic, art, project, examples. Last year, my algebra 2 kiddos simply created art through conic sections.this was a part of what we call a design challenge and i didn't want it to be too intense. for algebra 2 this year, i've decided to assign the project at the beginning of the unit as well as add onto it!. This project in meant to allow students to use their prior knowledge of functions and relations to investigate conic sections before the unit begins. included in this packet: instructions on how to do the project with the students. hand out to help the students investigate equation cards note ta.
Conic Art Project Instructions
mr rysz lhs algebra ii conic section desmos project example. i created this video with the video editor ( editor) by audrey woodruff. by matt thompson and luis perez. how to determine equations from a graph. my screencast describing the kitten i created for the conic project. students used their understanding of conic sections to create original artwork which reveals the beauty in mathematics. in this tutorial, we graph toad from nintendo. we use desmos, the free online graphing calculator to graph him. this graph uses conic sections heavily. we only