Des-blog

Dan Meyer’s Taco Cart 3-Act task has long been a favorite among the Desmos teaching faculty. Two people are on a beach and decide to buy lunch from a taco vendor on the nearby boardwalk. The two disagree about the fastest route, so they go their own ways and rendez-vous at the cart. Who gets there first? Is there a faster route than either person takes? What if you had a beach wheelchair? Can a dog do this math? So many great questions present themselves in this context.

This task has several other elements going for it as well:

• It creates an intellectual need for the Pythagorean Theorem.
• The exposition is short, focused, and connected to existing student thinking.

In remaking this task in the medium of Activity Builder, we thought hard about what opportunities and constraints came along with this transition.

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Hey ho! Friday Fave here with new activities and some activity updates!

Here’s what’s new.

First up, two activities that are inspired by and adapted from Illustrative Mathematics and OpenUp Resources. (You can view and download for free at openupresources.org.)

Shifting Shapes elicits informal language about how shapes move in the plane, and it includes a delightful Kaleidoscope Playground.

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Whether you’re looking to up your personal Desmos game or reaching out for your entire district - there is a form to let us know you’re interested in learning more!

• We have a standard 6-hour in person workshop where you can learn about the graphing calculator and using Desmos activities in your classroom.
• One-hour webinar with a focus on either the graphing calculator or the activities.
• Conference sessions and preconferences. Keep an eye on learn.desmos.com/events and the Desmos Twitter account for details as these events become available.

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