Desmos Interactive Graphing Calculatorhttps://www.desmos.com/

What is Desmos?

Online interactive graphing tool

Plots any type of equation Linear Quadratic Exponential, etc…

Works on any computer or tablet without downloading

Free!

How does Desmos work?

Click to watch a

quick video on the basics of Desmos.

Desmos in the classroom:

Uses in the classroom are endless Desmos has premade activities made for the

classroom by teachers that are aligned to Common Core Standards for many levels

https://teacher.desmos.com/activities Students can manipulate the coordinates and

notice the effects of the equation Students can complete activities in the

classroom or finish at home if they don’t have enough time

Implementation #1Exploring Transformations of Exponential Functions

Transformation of Exponential Functions.docx

Students used Desmos to explore various transformations on the parent function y=2x

This lesson is very similar to a lesson I did in previous years, but it was very time consuming to have students make tables of the values and graph the different transformations. It also took out the human error element when students miscalculate values.

Implementation #1Exploring Transformations of Exponential Functions

Successes:

Students were able to work at own pace

Students who “got it” could work ahead and not have to wait for lecture to move on

Lesson took less time than doing it by hand

Challenges

Students who need assistance can’t be helped all at once because they are in different spots in lesson

Some students just worked through the lesson without really thinking about what was happening (they were just looking for right answer not WHY)

Implementation #2Point-Slope Form

pointslopeform.pdf

Students develop meaning of point-slope form by manipulating the different coordinates

Students notice that equations can be written in different forms, but will represent the same line.

Implementation #2Point-Slope Form

Successes:

Students can see different lines quickly instead of graphing by hand

Students created their own equations and were able to check their lines (since the graphing calculator only does slope-intercept form students were never able to check their graphed

equations before)

Challenges

I wish the equation for the line showed on the equation bar so that students could SEE the coordinates and slope change or not change when the points were manipulated.