Teaching about Functions through Motion in Real Time
Maria Lorelei Fernández · Mathematics Teacher Learning and Teaching PK-12 · 2006
How do you think your students would respond to the question in figure 1? When I presented this problem to a group of first and second year algebra students near the end of the school year, the majority answered incorrectly, choosing graphs (a) or (d). Their selection revealed the common phenomenon of students' confusion about the link between the shape of a graph (circular) and the actual event (motion of the Ferris wheel). Calculator-Based Laboratories, or CBLs (used here for CBL and CBL 2), and motion detectors are tools that clarify and enhance students' understanding of functions. After using these tools, the majority of those same first and second year algebra students correctly chose graph (b).