Lesson plan for balancing equations

Lesson plans > Graphing lines by finding points

Lesson plan for graphing linear equations by finding points by Sulan Dun

Graphing linear by finding points can seem rather dry and academic. This lesson plan makes use of a fun interactive tutorial and game that shows why lines are useful, shows how they work, and provides a fun game to practice picking the correct linear equation.

Directions:

1. Get a copy of the worksheets that go with the game at http://funbasedlearning.com/algebra/graphing/xytables.htm and http://funbasedlearning.com/algebra/graphing/coordinatePlanes.htm

2. Have students go to http://funbasedlearning.com/algebra/graphing/lines/default.htm and click the Introduction button. There, they learn why linear equations are useful and how they work in a fun interactive story and tutorial.

3. Upon completion of the tutorial, students play the Line Gem 1 game. They use the worksheets to manually graph lines so they can identify which linear equation button to click so their dragon can fly the correct path to get as many gems as possible.

Assessment:
The easiest way to assess this is to just ask them to show you the final screen. Here is a scoring/assessment guide:

5500+: Excellent score, they have mastered it

4800-5400: Good score, mostly get it

3800-4700: Getting there, starting to get it, should play and practice again

2600-3700: Random guess score, they don't get it

< 1100: They have deliberately picked all the equations which resulted in the least possible score, which means they are really good at graphing lines, they just have a sense of humor and are trying to surprise you with the lowness of their score.

Conclusion(s):

This is a fun way to teach graphing lines by finding points and it's very motivating for students to learn. They really enjoy the funny story and tutorial and have lots of fun competing with each other as they strive to perfect their ability to graph lines so they can get a higher score.