pa·rab·o·la
noun
a symmetrical open plane curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to its side. The path of a projectile under the influence of gravity ideally follows a curve of this shape.
For students the definition is a little different:
pa·rab·o·la
noun
a bunch of math stuff that has a formula that I'm going to have to remember, but never actually understand why I'm learning it, and will never actually use it in life.
Having taught math before, I kind of like the student's definition better, but I would always soldier on through the math book and teach them the parabolic function and every "real life" word problem associated with it.
I especially like the questions in the text book that involve golf. Trying to "sell" the need to learn parabolic function, I always revert to questions like this and tell students, " Look here, you can use this math to figure out how far your ball goes...... Don't you want to know how high it goes (apex) before it starts falling towards the ground?"
Anyone who attempts to play golf is more worried about where their ball is in relation to the water hazard, sand trap, or how far you sliced it into the bush. It is highly unlikely that anyone is going to do math on the course.
How on earth can you make the parabolic function interesting? Teach it using a home made trebuchet.
That's right! Our math class teamed up with our shop classes and together they went outside on a nice spring day and launched stuff. It was not hard to convince the shop teachers to build a trebuchet. I was curious to watch, but since I'm an English teacher it was hard to justify leaving class. I asked my students, "Do you want to see the math class launch a watermelon across the football field?"
 |
| A cosmetology student waits to launch her mannequin head. |
Of course they did, and so did all the other classes in the afternoon. Lined up were teachers and students with their own ammunition ready for some destruction. Cantaloupes, apples, oranges, and grapefruit were to norm, but the cosmetology class brought a mannequin head, cooking class had a small bag of flour, and some boys ran across the street to purchase a carton of milk. I didn't stick around to see how the milk exploded.
 |
| Sadly, the head did not go very far. |
Everyone took their turn guessing how far their projectile would go, or how much damage it would make upon impact. Out on the field , students were ready with a camera to snap pictures of the flight pattern. The pictures were compiled to see the flight pattern of each projectile..... Guess what? The flight patterns make a pretty nice parabola.
Parabolas are never fun to teach, but this hands on activity captivated the entire school and their interest in parabolas was a lot higher than previous years. If anything, the students will always remember the time they launched stuff in math class.
0 comments:
Post a Comment