How do I make Algebra 2 more interesting?

Question

I teach high school math and physics, and am working on some lesson plans for the upcoming year. I've managed to come up with all kinds of interesting projects for all of my classes except Algebra 2. It's one of the most useful classes in high school, in my opinion, but to be honest it's pretty boring. Any ideas on how to make things a bit more interesting so they'll remember it for more than an hour after the test?

Answer 1

i didnt give them tests but more formative assessment pieces along the way

games-  loo cards for exponent work

matchign bingo- but at the harder level

matchign graphs with asymptotes

speed races for long division and remainder theorum stuff

i gave them a graphgin project whre they could work in pairs.

draw a picure likea rabbit or scene that included types of ellipes - 1 had to overlap with another and they had to prove solution points

circles

hyperbolas-  sides of a tree are good.

the kids had to give foci and all the good stuff.

to show types of conics  i took dough or playdouch and dental floss and got them to cut up a cone- very memorable.- they had to draw outcomes.

the kids usign  different color pens n their notesto find common denominators and the multipliers for each term.

got a prent to come in and talk about how he uses multivariable systems ( row eschlon)to solve for variables in a rainforest system.

  get someone to talk about animation and how we can use matrices when u and - and multiply what that does to a graphic. what happens when u multiply by

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0 -1)

yep it was really hard to keep them on task - the first 10 min of everylesson were 10 quick fire questions on the last lesson every day.  i had jns and senrs it was tuff!!!

if they fell asleep they had to stand up and work for the rest of the lesson.

Answer 2

I know exactly what you mean, and I recall having the same problem when I was in high school (Class of '77).  I'm not sure if this will work for you, but it really worked for me.  At that time in my life, I was really into crossword puzzles, word searches, anything that seemed like a game (we didn't have the fancy electronic games then... only Pong!).  So as I was contemplating how to make Algebra 2 more interesting, it struck me that it was all in my mind... and if that was the case, I could make a game out of it.  So I started to view every problem as a puzzle... a game that had a solution.  My job was to try to solve the puzzle.  I'd even keep score on the problems I did correctly by checking my answers in the back of the book.  It made it more interesting.

Answer 3

If you have acess to computers, you can use Excel for presenting functions as tables and graphs.  In the "real" world, Excel is a vital tool for math applications and there are many topics in Algebra II that can be livened up with Excel.  Students should be able to identify from a table, for instance, whether the function is linear, exponential, quadratic or etc.

Answer 4

I downplayed lecturing in favor of group work, activities, etc. Basically it's solving equations and graphing. I used Paul Forrester's text with a lot of mathematical model problems. Measure shadows on the wall, graph the relation between time and distance travelled. Get one of those music box insides that play Pop Goes the Weasel and have them sing (and memorize) the quadratic formula with it; : x equals negative b, plus or minus the square root, of b square minus four ac, ALL OVER 2a! I assigned open-ended problems like finding numbers than can be expressed and the sum of two squares in two different ways, hail-stone numbers, designing stadium seating with certain parameters, etc.