I start by doing the "function diagram dance" for my students. (To understand this, you need to already be familiar with function diagrams.)The idea of the dance is that my right hand represents x and my left hand represents y. (From the student's perspective, this puts the x on the left and the y on… Continue reading Kinesthetic Function Diagrams
Tag: Kinesthetics
Yet again, more kinesthetics!
If you search for "kinesthetic" on this blog, you'll see a series of posts about kinesthetic activities to help teach various concepts. I will eventually combine all of these into a new page on my Web site -- but it just hit me that I had not yet posted all the kinesthetic activities I use.… Continue reading Yet again, more kinesthetics!
Kinesthetic Radians
(Previous kinesthetic posts: Pascal's Triangle, Graphing, Distance.)If radians are introduced strictly with a formula, the meaning of the word is difficult to grasp for many students. Some years ago, I learned two tricks from a colleague, which I'll share here:- Tell students that "radian" is short for "radius angle".- A one-minute kinesthetic activity: ask students… Continue reading Kinesthetic Radians
Even More Kinesthetic Activities: Distance
(Previous kinesthetic posts: Pascal's Triangle, Graphing)These activities are best done in a gym or playground. Start before discussing circles, perpendicular bisectors, angle bisectors, etc. in a geometry class. It may be best to not do all of the activities in one session.I've done much of this with my own students, but not yet all. I… Continue reading Even More Kinesthetic Activities: Distance
Another Kinesthetic Activity: Graphing
In a recent post, I responded to a request for a kinesthetic introduction to Pascal's Triangle. Here is a kinesthetic activity to introduce or review graphing:Ask students to line up along the line at the middle of a basketball court, which will be the x-axis. The middle student will be 0, and students on the… Continue reading Another Kinesthetic Activity: Graphing
Kinesthetic intro to Pascal’s Triangle
Question in an online discussion:I'm trying to figure out how to kinesthetically demonstrate Pascal's triangle with my precalculus kidsMy response: I do a lot of kinesthetic activities in geometry and algebra, but haven't yet thought about this particular topic that way.Here's a possibility:- Have students stand in a triangular number arrangement- Give the top student… Continue reading Kinesthetic intro to Pascal’s Triangle
Henri's Math Education Blog 