Mathematics Activities in the Classroom (Week 14 Reflection)

Sharing with the Class

This week’s class focused on two learning activities that were intended for a grade 12 College level mathematics class. The first activity involved Trigonometric Functions, specifically SOH CAH TOA and the Sine and Cosine Laws. The students were divided into partners by randomly selecting names out of a hat, and each pair was given a worksheet that involved solving for angles and sides of right triangles. This promoted group work and peer tutoring because both parties in the group had to properly write out the solution on their own sheet in order to obtain the next activity worksheet. The next worksheet involved Oblique triangles using the Sine and Cosine Law, and it encouraged creativity and critical thinking skills, because one partner had to create the question for the other partner to solve. This was a great activity because in order to come up with a question that is solvable, the students have to really understand the material. This is a great indicator for teachers to assess if the students are learning the necessary skills to solve oblique triangles. After solving each question written by their partner, the students were to write their solutions on chart paper and present their question and answer to the class. This was beneficial because it allowed the students to share different types of questions and solutions to the class, which students can copy into their notebooks for future studies in a regular classroom setting, and furthermore, this implements Reinforced Learning.

Activity Booklet with different colour Activities

The second activity presented was for a grade 12 College level mathematics class and it involved exploring Sinusoidal Functions with the technological tool, Geogebra. In this activity, the students were divided into partners, and they were each given a booklet with a variety of worksheets of different vibrant colours. Each team was given a different colour worksheet to work on and complete using the Geogebra program. Each coloured worksheet investigated a different parameter of a Sinusoidal Function. Geogebra is a very effective graphing program, which easily allowed students to graph a function and view the changes in the graph if the parameters change. After recording specific features of the graph, drawing it, and recording the transformations on the provided worksheets, the students shared their answers collaboratively with the entire class. A member from each group read their answers aloud so that the rest of the students could record the solutions in their booklet. This is a great exercise, however it greatly depends on if the students in the class are the hard working type, and will review their homework and look over the other group’s solutions. In addition, the main concept from each activity worksheet was written on the board for the entire class to see.  This activity was very engaging for the students, and they appeared to be more willing to participate knowing that their group was only responsible for one coloured worksheet, not the entire package.

Overall both activities were very effective in engaging the class and providing productive exercises for each mathematically concept. I believe both activities will be successful in a grade 12 classroom, and they will instill a positive and enjoyable learning environment for all.