New features in Activity Builder
We have been working hard to increase the feature set in Activity Builder, and there’s lots more to come. We want to make sure everyone knows about two new and super useful features of Activity Builder, each released in the last week.
A short activity about range
by Christopher Danielson, Desmos Teaching Faculty
From time to time, we highlight one or more Activity Builder activities here on the Des-blog. Today it’s a little one I made a while back, adapted from a low-tech activity I’ve used in my College Algebra classroom a number of times.
It’s quick, it’s easy to run, and it generates fascinating conversation among students. It’s instruction and formative assessment wrapped in a tight 15-minute package.
Anyone who teaches a course that involves discussing the domain and range of functions should give it a whirl. Here’s why.
New Activity: Marbleslides
At Desmos, a company principle is, design for delight.
And we have designed something new and delightful for your classroom: Marbleslides.
You see four stars on the screen, and part of a parabola.
You click “Launch”, and marbles are released. They slide down the parabola, up into the first quadrant, through the stars, and fall away off the bottom of the screen. Delightful.
Delightful and challenging, because soon you’ll need to move that parabola around. And stretch it. And restrict its domain.
You’re going to get very good very quickly at resizing, repositioning, and restricting the domains of parabolas in order to match the graphs on the screen to the images in your mind.
You’ll laugh. You’ll cheer. You’ll pump your fist and raise the roof.
Go try it out. It’s delightful.
p.s. Marbleslides for lines, periodics, rationals, and exponentials are ready for classrooms, too.