Name:  Sheila Ogden 

Title of lesson: It Varies, Introduction to Variables.

 Length of lesson:  50 minutes

Source of Lesson:

 I. Description of the class:

                     Name of course:  Algebra I

                     Grade level:  9^th grade

                     Honors or regular:  either

II.  Performance or learner outcomes

Students will be able to recognize the differences between independent and dependent Variables. Students will also be able to graph from charts and data and label axes appropriately with corresponding variables.

III. TEKS

1.A)The student understands that a function represents a dependence of one quantity on another and can be described in a variety of ways, The student describes independent and dependent quantities in functional relationships. B) The student gathers and records data, or uses data sets, to determine functional (systematic) relationships between quantities

IV. Resources, materials and supplies needed

-stop watches

-Graph Paper

V. Supplementary materials, handouts.

See attachments.

Teacher Does Probing Questions Student Does

Engage: Time __5 minutes

How long do you think you could jump up and down without rest? How fast do you think you could do this (how may times could you jump in a minute)? What conditions would effect the speed and duration of you jumping?

Students throw out conjectures (expecting ridiculous ones, teacher throws them out). Weather, fitness level, etc.

Explore: Teacher Breaks students up into groups of three or four. Students return to desks to make a table of their results Time 20minutes

How did your jumping jack rate change as time passed? How is this shown in the table? What might this pattern suggest about how physical activity would change over a long period of time?

Students designate a jumper, a counter, and a recorder. The Jumper does jumping jacks while the timer watches the stop watch (or clock) counting out loud at 5 second intervals. The recorder counts the jumping jacks completed at the time intervals.

Explain: Time 15 minutes

What are the two variables we wish to graph here? We need to chose which axis to put these measurements on. Usually we assign quantities to each axis by thinking about how they are related. Does one variable depend on the other? If so, that is the dependent variable and we put that on the x axis. The y- axis is for the independent variable. In this case the number of jumping jacks depends on time, so what are our variables? Students practice appropriate scaling and labeling of their graphs. Then the class compares graphs.

Time and jumping jacks Jumping jacks (independent) Time (dependent)

Extend / Elaborate:

Time 5 minutes

Given this table of Sheryl Swoop’s Statistics make a graph of her Average points per game throughout her WNBA career.

.

Year	Points Per Game
1997	7.1
1998	15.6
1999	18.3
2000	20.7
2001	0
2002	18.5
2003	14.8
2004	14.8
2005	18.6

What is the dependent variable, which is the independent variable? Why?

Students recognize that the year is the dependent variable and the PPG is the independent variable.

Evaluate:

Applications worksheet as attached below for homework.

Approx. Time__.5_mins