On February 19th, DESMOS activity:
Transforming Functions was given.
12 students participated, this activity took 30 minutes.
In this DESMOS activity students were able to visualize how, in general, the graph of function changes, under rigid and none-rigid transformations. For all questions during the activity the function was expressed as f(x), which helped students to understand that these transformations can be applied to any function whatsoever. As I walked around helping students, I noticed that the counterintuitive nature of “horizontal shifts” was better understood thanks to the “visualization” of what they posting. This time, students were able to check if what they posted was right or wrong as well as what their classmates were posting, this helped them, in most cases, to understand the nature of their mistakes, correct them and post again. “mistakes are part of the learning process” I often said to encourage students to finish with the activity. the “interactive visualization” of this DESMOS activity, in my opinion, brings clarity and helps students “make sense” of what is explained in class. Through out the activity I asked students “what if… ” questions to help them figure out the answers reasoning.
