Since the Friday Five is a US resident (this being Desmos, the Friday Five has
a green card), it is looking forward to celebrating Independence Day on
Monday. By watching fireworks. Which travel in parabolic arcs.
In anticipation of that celebration, the Friday Five digs deep into the archives for five cool parabola activities for a midsummer night’s math. Enjoy.
(NOTE: Some or all of these may have been featured previously, but never before in a parabola-centric collection.)
Match My Parabola
If we’re talking parabolas and Activity Builder, then Match My Parabola is required reading. This is practically what we built Activity Builder to make possible in the first place!
Will It Hit the Hoop?
You may recognize the man in these images, but not from the NBA. Who is he, and where did he get all those basketballs? You’ll have to click through to find out. Then you’ll maybe want to start a session for your algebra students. The Friday Five encourages that behavior.
Polygraph: Parabolas: Understanding h and k
Nathan Robinson has assembled this custom Polygraph with a bit of a different spin from house-made version. Hopefully it’ll be just the thing to get your students in the groove for finding and using the vertex form of a parabola.
Single Transformations of Quadratic Functions
This is a comprehensive look at transforming parabolas in vertex form. Students notice, describe, predict, verify… all the important stuff for making learning stick. This makes a really nice follow up to Nathan’s Polygraph.
Where Is the Vertex?
Novel, challenging, and ripped straight from the pages of Mathematics Teacher, this activity asks us to use what we know about y-intercepts to find a parabola’s vertex when the quadratic function is presented in standard form.
Whether your next fireworks are on Monday or another day, the Friday Five wishes you a great weekend with parabolas aplenty!