Using Hands-On Activities to Learn About Linear Functions

ABSTRACT\ud USING HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES TO LEARN ABOUT\ud LINEAR FUNCTIONS\ud by\ud Chris G. Dell\ud Master of Science in Mathematics Education\ud California State University, Chico\ud Spring 2011\ud There is a need for lessons that combine rigor and relevance. During the first\ud few years I taught at Enterprise High School, we created of a new course, ???Hands-on\ud Algebra 1,??? for those students with low academic scores in mathematics. The goal of\ud this class was to increase student confidence and develop a deeper understanding of the\ud concepts at the students??? pace by presenting Algebra in a concrete manner. My project\ud was to develop and evaluate five hands-on lessons about linear functions for this course.\ud These lessons used an approach to allow students the opportunity to engage in\ud mathematical reasoning and problem solving. Each of the lessons was embedded in the\ud units about linear functions. The lessons are based on parts of six California Algebra 1\ud standards (6.0, 8.0, 9.0, 15.0, 17.0 and 18.0), which focus on linear functions and\ud function notation. Each lesson contains a lesson plan outlining the goals, the objectives\ud and the California Algebra 1 Mathematics content standard(s) being taught, notes to the\ud teacher, a timeline, detailed directions, assessment instruments, a list of required\ud manipulatives and appropriate rubrics. The project will be helpful to other teachers who\ud are looking for curriculum resources that have standard-based concrete activities and\ud examples. Prior to the start of the first of three units on linear functions, the teachers\ud involved in the evaluation of the project administered a linear functions assessment. The\ud same assessment was administered again at the end of the third of three units on linear\ud functions. Another analysis involving a student survey and a teacher survey based on\ud interval variables was administered at the end of each hands-on activity. The results of\ud the assessment tools and the hands-on algebra lessons are included in the project.CSU, Chic