After our lesson about teaching through google maps and google earth, I thought it was super interesting seeing how flight patterns actually look. This got me thinking about how I could utilize this technology in my math classroom, and I thought that teaching my class about quadratic equations using flight patterns would be super interesting.
Using maps to teach quadratic equations can allow kids to choose their starting point and destination, learn about latitude and longitude, and use the flight pattern to generate an equation given that the starting point is the origin. This could then lead into cubic equations by treating the above destination as a layover and then picking another destination.
Teaching polynomials through maps allows kids to apply mathematics to the real world, which helps them understand how the world works around them.
Devan, this is such a wonderful idea! I am certainly going to try this out in my future classroom too. Us math people know that math is applicable to everyday life, but technology allows these connections to be made more obvious for people who might not understand math as easily. Another benefit of this lesson would be to show students what truly happens when you fly across the world, because they would probably assume that planes fly in straight lines rather than in parabolic paths. If you were ever teaching a Calc BC class or another course that looks at things in three dimensions, you could also talk about the altitude of the plane during its flight. That way you have the parabola on your x/y-axis (or longitude/latitude), and the altitude would be your z-axis.
ReplyDeleteAs someone that isn't much of a math person, I think this is really cool. I love the application to a real-world idea that students can use their own personal experiences to help them learn. I know I would've enjoyed a lesson where we look up the flight patterns to our dream locations, then find the quadratic equation for that. I think that could be a really cool and engaging lesson and I hope there's more math teachers who will teach a lesson like that.
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