Alexandra LIfka-Reselman

Math 45
Final Project
The class that I created this activity for is a tenth grade Algebra 1 class at Valley High
School. Algebra is normally taken as 9th graders, so this is a remedial class. Since I knew I
would need to teach the activity, I chose a class that I had worked extensively with before, and
that the teacher would not mind me borrowing them for a period. The class level has two
different period, both of which have quite a few students with special needs. The first class
period has an associate that assists, but the second class period does not. Because of this, the
teacher suggested that I split the classes in half so that I would only have about ten students at a
time. Unfortunately this limits their exploration time to 10-15 minutes.
Students at Valley on this math track learn mostly about reflections next year in geometry
where they reflect and translate shapes. I have noticed that when they get to geometry, many
students struggle to remember or understand how changing quadrants changes coordinate sets. I
wanted to create an activity that would allow them to explore the relations in Algebra, so when
they have to apply it in geometry, they will be more comfortable.
To successfully explore in this activity, students need to be comfortable with the
coordinate plane as far as understanding the different quadrants, the x-axis, the y-axis, coordinate
sets and what the line y=x means. Even at the end of the school year, I know that many of these
students still mix up the x and y axis. I created a simple activity that addressed each of the axis
separately as a way to minimize confusion. In the extension, they have an opportunity to explore
a reflection that affects both the x and y coordinates. These students have not used Geogrebra in
the past so the task also needed to be simple enough that they would not be overwhelmed by the
various options within the program.

My mathematical goal is for students to think about how what quadrant a reflection ends
up in affects how a points coordinates will change. By the end of the exploration they will see
that a reflection over the x axis causes the y values to flip signs and a reflection over the y axis
causes the x values to flip signs. The extension is meant to lead them into what happens with
reflections that change both the x and y values. Instead of memorizing rules for reflections, I
would like the students to understand why the values in the coordinate pairs change.
The goal for students mathematical thinking is to encourage them to make and test
conjectures. There are many guesses that the students can make about the points which are true
sometimes but do not apply to all situations. They could guess that the values will increase,
decrease, become negative, become positive; it all depends on where their initial point is. These
guesses will not hold true as they move the point around. The activity requires them to adjust
their guess so that is stay true as they drag the point around. I give them multiple situations
which will help them refine their conjecture. With this group I am careful to use the word guess
instead of conjecture as I know that many of them do not read at grade level.
I also know that this group of students gets frustrated very easily. They spend a lot of
their math experience being told that they are wrong. I wanted the computer to give them
feedback instead of a teacher. By having them look at values in the Algebra portion of geogebra,
I hope that they can catch where their guesses do not make sense. They all have some prior
experience on computers, though not with math programs. I hope their general comfort with
technology will transfer over to Geogebra. It is frustrating to have to erase over and over when
you are wrong. I think the manipulation of Geogrebra will create a less stressful experience.
Exploration overall will be a new experience for these students. Most of their learning
has been direct instruction and worksheets. I think it will be difficult for them to engage in

exploration at first since they lack prior experience. I hope the simplicity of the assignment will
help them feel unpressured and that they can explore without worrying that they have the wrong
answer.
The goal of having students make and test conjectures is supported by this activity as a
reorganizer. While the steps are very specific, where the student places their first point has a
dramatic effect on their conjectures. If they put it in a location where the y value starts out
negative, then they may make the conjecture that reflecting over the x axis makes a value
positive. They also may make the conjecture that the reflection make the y value increase. Both
of these are true, but not for all points on the graph. I have them drag their point across both the y
and x axis so that they see that sometimes their statement is true, but depending on the quadrant
it may not be. The prompts require that they refine their guess until it works for anywhere that
they drag the point.
They could not do this exploration without the sketch because it would require they know
how to reflect a point over an axis and it would take a lot of time for them to test many points.
While they could be taught how to reflect, their calculations are not as clear and correct as what
Geogebra provides. It is close to impossible for the students to recreate the dynamic change of
how the reflection changes as the initial point is dragged on paper. They could make some guess
based on trends from a few points they graph and reflect, but it would not be as clear as being
able to drag to any new point and see what happens to the reflection on the way there.
Geogebra provides immediate feedback which is necessary for students to test their
conjectures. Just by dragging the point into all the axis, the dynamic sketch and the algebra view
show them where their guesses are correct and where they are incorrect. If a student guesses that
a reflection makes a value negative and then they drag the initial point across all the axis, they

will immediately see that the reflection does not always stay negative. I specifically included the
prompt requiring that they cross axis because I realised that they may not do so in their
exploration without direction. If they do not cross all the axis, they are able to create an incorrect
guess that is not disproven. This makes both the prompts and the sketch necessary for them to
explore, test, and refine their conjectures.