Susan M. Johnson & Kendall Wahba Greenville Technical College Greenville, SC.

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Transcript of Susan M. Johnson & Kendall Wahba Greenville Technical College Greenville, SC.

Fun and Engaging Developmental Math Activities

Susan M. Johnson & Kendall WahbaGreenville Technical College Greenville, SC

Session expectations

• Experience 5 great activities – and take them home!

• Consider how to apply them to a variety of classroom environments.  

• Share ideas, strategies, and experiences throughout the conference via social media.

#1: The “Count the Vowels” Activity

Key topic taught: metacognition

Suggestions for use: Not graded, use as a warmup during the first week of class.

Materials: timer and method to project list of words Ready?!

Dollar Bill Dice Tricycle Four Leaf

Clover Hand Six-Pack Seven-Up Octopus

Cat Lives Bowling Pins Football Team Dozen Eggs Unlucky

Friday Valentine’s

Day Quarter Hour

#2: Journey to the Bus Stop

Key topics taught: Functions, graphing, modeling.

Prior knowledge required: Graphing equations in two variables.

Materials: Depends on how much time you have!

Every morning Tom walks from his home to a bus stop, a distance of 160 meters. The graph shows his journey

on one particular day.

Study the graph.

Could you write a short paragraph describing Tom’s walk to the bus stop?

A B

C

D

Match the Graph, Interpretation, and Data Table

#3: Factoring Competition

Key topics taught- factorization

Prior knowledge required- prime and composite numbers

Materials- copies of factor gathering table (or make own)

Be sure to play against the class for a few rounds!

Start by playing a few rounds with the class.

Team A is Kendall - Representing students

Team B is Susan - Representing the instructor

Team A chooses a number and gets the equivalent value in points. Team B gets points for any remaining

factors. Cross off the numbers gathered.

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

Team A chooses #30 and receives 30 points…

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

Team A Team B

30

Cross out the remaining factors. Team B receives this total in points.

1+2+3+5+6+10+15 = 42pts

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

Team A Team B

30 42

Now it is Team B’s turn to start. Let’s say they choose #29. Now

their point total is 71 (42+29).

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

Team A Team B

30 42+29

=71

Team A will not receive any points because the only remaining factor of 29

is 1 and it has already been crossed off!

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

Team A Team B

30+0 42+29

=30 =71

Team A will not receive any points because the only remaining factor of 29 is 1 and it has already been

crossed off!

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

Team A Team B

30+0 42+29

=30+25

=71

=45

#4:Artifacts in Mathematics -

Sharing & Social Media A fun way to spur

conversations about math! Grading suggestions:

varies Materials: computer/mobile

device, internet access, membership to a social media site, and/or online discussion board access.

Ideas Articles Pictures Quotes Jokes

Shopping experience Construction Automotive Sports Games of chance Other ideas?

1. Facebook groups.

2. Social media linked back through class discussion board.

3. Others?

#5: Factoring the Code Prior knowledge required

o factor out the GCF from a polynomial o factor trinomialso factor binomials (diff. of squares and diff/sum of

cubes)o factor by grouping

Materials: copies of worksheet

Example: “Z” factors to be ). If the factor , or appears in the message, replace it with the letter Z.

Example: “Z” factors to be ). If the factor , or appears in the message, replace it with the letter Z.

I LOVE FACTORING AND MATH!

Wrap up• Q&A• Share what works

for you!

Susan JohnsonSusan.M.Johnson@gvltec.edu864-250-8302

Kendall WahbaKendall.Wahba@gvltec.edu864-250-8369