Modelling Parabolas with Angry Birds

If you use Geometer's Sketch Pad in your math class you might want to try this activity.  Not sure if kids even know what Angry Birds is anymore but if they don't play this game you could have the kids video some classmates shooting basketballs in the gym with there cell phone to do this activity or download a video of Lebron shooting a basket.  To see the activity click here.

March Reading Madness

Well it is March and I know you ballers are looking forward to March Madness.  In the library I have run March Reading Madness to  coincide with they 64 team tourney.  I have selected the top  16 books that have gone out in our library based on the books circulation.  To decide which book moves on we use a bit of probability.

  Let us assume book A has been taken out 30 times and book B has been taken out 20 times then book A should  get through to the next round 30/(30+20) or 3/5ths of the time compared to book B's 2/5ths of the time.  We then have a student use their calculator and the random number generator to pick a number between 1 and 50.  If it is 1-30 then book A advances and if it is 31-50 then book B advances.  Just working a bit of math in here for you.

System of Equations and shooting hoops

 Andrew Stadel posted a nice little pdf that you could use to introduce systems of equations.

This picture can be found by clicking here.

This picture can be found by clicking here.

 Maybe you might have your students go to the gym and shoot some baskets in pairs and record the number they make from the free-throw line and from the field (or field vs 3 pt line) and then they can present their data to the class and have other students solve the equations.