Math Lesson B: Cartesian Coordinate

Subject: Mathematics (Coordinate Geometry - An Introduction)
Location: Class 1-07
Conducted by: Mr Johari, Miss Loh Kwai Yin, Mr Edmund Ng

Brief Description of Activity

The Mission
In groups, you embark on a mission to capture “aliens” visiting the earth. Armed with codes left behind by the aliens in their previous trip, you will mark the locations on a GoogleMap that turn out to be straight line paths. They discover a relationship between the codes and are able to describe the paths mathematically using equations.

Through this mission...
You will understand that there exists a relationship between points found on lines (that can be described by equations)

You will need to know that...
  1. Linear paths can be described with an equation, y = mx + c when placed on a Cartesian plane
  2. Steepness of a slope can be described by the gradient (m) 

Let's trace their footsteps!
On the mission card, you see a set of ‘secret codes’. These codes come in pairs of numbers. Discuss how you would interpret these codes?
  • You will be using GoogleMap to accomplish this part of the mission.
  • The student assistant to your group would log in to the GoogleMap.
  • On the GoogleMap, mark the locations using the symbol assigned.
GoogleMaps:
 Refer to the location information given to you as well as the path you have traced.



Click here to find out.


    Next...

    We are going to transfer the "locations" into a collaborative graphing platform called "TI Navigator".
    • Identify the line (and equation) that your points lie on before you SUBMIT your points to the teacher.
    • Are you able to tell if...
      • any other alien(s) take the same route as your alien?
      • your alien is going to meet any other alien(s)?
      • there are alien(s) that your alien will never meet?

    Reporting...

    Look at the paths taken by other aliens.
    Give a general description on the paths taken by this team of aliens that are coming to the earth. (e.g. How do you tell if some of them travel together or would meet up along the way?)



    Let's read the reports.

    Share with us your experience in this activity.
    • How different it is, compared to your learning experiences in your Primary School Maths classroom?
    • One or more things that you find refreshing in this activity?

    27 comments:

    1. I do not usually use computers in Primary maths. Working with computers makes work less tedious.
      - Md Daniel Bin Rosli

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    2. It is much more challenging than the Primary School Maths and i have learnt that teamwork is also very important to accomplish a task.

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    3. Marco,Yan Zheng, Markus, Kaelan10/22/2011 09:23:00 am

      More interesting than primary school. We don't use the computers often. Always worksheets and problem sums, homework. All theory and less practical.

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    4. In my Primary School, I hardly use computers for maths class. This activity is fun and very engaging.
      - Michael Chun

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    5. Lorraine Meredith10/22/2011 09:24:00 am

      We used computers instead of books. The teachers are not unreasonable. '




      Lorraine, Meredith

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    6. This Maths lesson is much more interesting than in normal class lessons.
      Finding the points using Google Earth is refreshing in this activity.
      Ashraf
      this maths lesson requires us to work in groups independently.
      Chi Han

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    7. It was really fun and definitely a total different experience from primary school. The task got me to think differently, viewing math from a whole new way.

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    8. How different it is, compared to your learning experiences in your Primary School Maths classroom?
      ans: There is more ICT

      One or more things that you find refreshing in this activity?
      ans: Finding the points where is aliens travelled.

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    9. How different it is, compared to your learning experiences in your Primary School Maths classroom?
      ans: It uses technology to help us learn.

      One or more things that you find refreshing in this activity?
      ans: I learnt more about algebra.

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    10. We get to use macs for learning maths, which we never used in primary schools. we learn more complicated maths the fun way so that we can absorb it faster.
      - SHEN KAI, yeo tzun kai, Wong Kang Zhi

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    11. It was very different from Primary school mathematics as we included the use of applications and tools found on the internet which we have never used in primary school before. The different way we learn at SST is very interesting and is definitely an eye-opener to me. Thus, I think that was very refreshing

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    12. Trevor Tan, Shawnn Tan, Shaun Neo10/22/2011 10:12:00 am

      We got to use computers instead of books during our lesson.
      We learnt maths through a fun activity instead of learning through textbooks.

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    13. Usually we did't use laptop or any other electronic devices in math except calculators

      ReplyDelete
    14. Using the MacBoom makes learning easier and less tedious as compared to primary school math. The activity was fun as real situations like capturing the aliens were implied.

      ReplyDelete
    15. vibin and shi jie10/22/2011 10:14:00 am

      i don't use computers and other software for maths in our pri school that often.

      It is very challenging.:D

      vibin and shi jie

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    16. i usually find primary school mathematics lesson boring but i feel that this maths lesson is a bit more interesting as the situation given is different but better. and using the computer, visiting various pages to crack a code is more interesting than the boring classroom setup with the paper and pen usage

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    17. In primary school math lessons, the way I learn is very different compared to how we learn here at SST. My lessons seldom include the use of computers but here at SST, I got a chance to use computers here and learn math. Before this lesson, i had never imagined that we could even use goggle map to learn math.

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    18. How different it is, compared to your learning experiences in your Primary School Maths classroom?
      ans:It is much more interactive

      One or more things that you find refreshing in this activity?
      ans:NIL

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    19. We do not use computers in Primary school maths but we use computers in SST.

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    20. Jia Yi , Lynnette , Jia Wen10/22/2011 02:49:00 pm

      We do not get to use computers in primary school lessons and it is less tiring . And we get to share our answers with other groups. We never knew that we could use Google Map to learn math.

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    21. I normally do worksheets in Primary School during Maths lessons while I learn here using technology in an interesting way.

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    22. Kiran, Pides, Markus10/22/2011 02:50:00 pm

      It's methods of teaching are unique from different other schools. We get to know more about IT and that it can help us study better. We find it interesting and enjoyable, compared to the methods in other schools.

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    23. This lesson involves the use of computers and is more convenient compared to workbooks.
      -Bruce Ng

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    24. It relate to real life event.
      Need a lot hands activity.

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    25. How different it is, compared to your learning experiences in your Primary School Maths classroom?
      ans:Well, i feel it is more of technology usage than using text books. This helps us to remember much rather than mugging up things.

      One or more things that you find refreshing in this activity?
      ans:This helps me memorise things and my experience is that using laptops helps students more than studying in books. I like the way they teach :)

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    26. During Primary school math, it was not as interesting as how sst taught us . In primary school, we learn from textbooks while in sst we learn using mac. I never thought that we can even use google maps to learn!

      ReplyDelete
    27. How different it is, compared to your learning experiences in your Primary School Maths classroom?
      ans:At my school I used textbooks instead of computers so this more interesting and more interactive.

      One or more things that you find refreshing in this activity?
      ans:The room is air conditioned so it is very refreshing

      ReplyDelete