So, I’m supposed to be working on chapters 3 and 4 of my dissertation, but once again I find myself sidetracked and in need of something else to do to clear my mind before I go back to the statistics and joy that is APA formatting.
I teach Algebra 2, and we have implemented the CCSS for math. We’ve been messing around with the standards for the past few years, so it really doesn’t seem all that novel to me now. It still bugs me that the end-of-course exam we give doesn’t really seem to be all that aligned to CCSS, but that’s a blog for another day.
Last week we finished our brief lessons on systems of equations (after all, that topic is in 8th grade and algebra 1 now, right?) and came to the days of linear programming. While I find LP problems somewhat fun and cool, history has shown me my students most definitely do not share this admiration for the subject. So this year I decided to bring in a new tool. Enter Desmos.
My blogging skills are incredible sucky, so I don’t know how to make this a hyperlink. You can get using http://www.desmos.com As soon as I get smart, I’ll hyperlink it.
Anyway, I’m all, like, excited to show them LP on Desmos. Especially NOW that you can find intersection points by simply clicking the mouse. Totally cool, right?!? So, we went through the lego furniture problem (courtesy of @fawnpnguyen) and the NCTM dirtbike problem and the kids are hooked on Desmos. Oh, and they can do LP problems like no body’s business. Here’s what it looks like:
So, I’m happy. Until I remember the blasted end-of-course test. And now I’m mad. And frustrated. Isn’t one of the “mathematical practices” to use tools strategically? Now c’mon, you can’t tell me that using Desmos for this crazy long process called linear programming isn’t strategic. Do the kids still have to be able to write the objective function? Yep. Constraints? Yep. Graph the stuff? Yep. Find the vertices of the feasible region? Yep. Determine which one offers the optimal solution? Yep. Isn’t that the point of LP? I think so. So, I have about 60+ kids who, for possibly the first time in my career, really understand LP AND who understand the best tool for the job. Yet, I fear they will not score well on the EOC because they will miss a sign when they are solving a constraint for Y so they can graph it. Or they will miss a sign when solving the system for the intersection point. And since the test is all multiple choice, well, you know where that leaves them. With the wrong answer. And no credit for any of the work they really do understand.