You can't break math.

One way to invite more student thinking is to let students know that it’s impossible to break math.

 

Students often think that math is fragile, that unless they offer it the right answer, expressed in the right way, something bad will happen—a bad grade or bad feedback, for example. With this program, we've created representations of math that are responsive, rather than rigid. Students can throw an idea at the representation and it’ll react in some interesting way. They can learn from that reaction and then throw a new idea. But math won't break.

A broken waterslide.

What does it look like in Water Slide?

Right after the warm-up, we ask students to make a ramp that creates a smooth slide. This is a moment in a paper textbook where students might say, “I don’t know where to start.” Here, you can tell those students, “Start with any number. See what happens. See what you learn from what happens.” You can’t break math.

 

And when they eventually narrow in on a correct answer, you can ask them what they notice about their correct answer that wasn’t true about all their incorrect attempts. Those conversations invite student thinking and make correct answers easier to find in the future.

 

Have a great lesson!

 

Dan & the Desmos Classroom Team

PS. Please give us feedback on the last lesson.

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Great advice from other teachers.

Chicago, IL

 

Keep asking the question "What is a bumpy slide?" [and] "What is a smooth slide?" throughout the lesson.

 

East Hartford, CT

 

Focus on and review slide 5 with the students, which asks students if 3 triangles with provided heights and bases will make a smooth slide (and connect the smooth slide to a line, since that is what they will see in the next lesson). Help students to recognize equivalent fractions when writing the slope.

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