Take a function along for a ride. Given the graph of a roller coaster track, pupils determine key features of the graph such as the maximum, minimum, intervals of increase and decrease, and roots. They figure out the equation of the first hill and find the height after a given horizontal distance.

Concepts

domain, and range, range, intervals, roots, maximums, minimums, quadratic equations, quadratic functions

Show More Show Less

Additional Tags

math

Show More Show Less

Instructional Ideas

• Create a copy of the path of the roller coaster on a coordinate grid so the class uses the same frame of reference
• Extend the activity to find the equation of each parabola on the path

Classroom Considerations

• Class members should be able find the equation of a quadratic function given points on the graph

Pros

• Includes links to roller coaster related sites to add to the task
• Provides a list of assumed prerequisites

Cons

• The rubric contains scoring for a question that is not in the worksheet
• Includes the rubric used for scoring the construction of the task that may be confused as the rubric for learner's work

Common Core

MP1 MP2 MP4 HSF-IF.B.4 HSF-IF.B.5 HSF-IF.C.7.a