EATs with the fx-82 AU PLUS II
An EAT is an activity designed to engage students in mathematical Exploration And Thinking (EAT).
Each EAT was written by Alastair Lupton.
Working with gradient - Explore and Think
In this Explore and Think activity students apply the mathematics of gradient to the world's steepest street! Different representations of gradient are included, average gradient is calculated and, via a quadratic function of best fit and some calculus, a maximum gradient is found.
EAT activities include a student worksheet accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.
Working with nested radicals - Explore and Think
In this Explore and Think activity students work with surds in different and fruitful ways. The idea of nested radicals leads students from the evaluation of some funny-looking surd expressions through to the making of conjectures. These conjectures can be proved via the solution of a quadratic equation.
EAT activities include student worksheets accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.
Continued fractions - Explore and Think
In this Explore and Think activity students go on a journey through their investigation of continued fractions. This journey has the potential to feature such highlights as recursion and convergence, the fibonacci sequence and phi, quadratic equations and similarity. It could be a short stroll or an epic adventure, depending on its treatment.
EAT activities include student worksheets accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.
Simulating a random process - Explore and Think
In this Explore and Think activity students utilise the ability of handheld technology to easily model random processes. In this case the generation of random integers lets students explore the likely outcomes of two conflicting strategies in a game of chance. The evaluation of the desirability of these stategies can be based on experimental probability values, or can lead into an analysis of the probability of compound events.
EAT activities include student worksheets accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.
Developing and using regression models - Explore and Think
In this Explore and Think activity students utilise the ability of handheld technology to readily develop regression models for biavraite data. The data at hand is of atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperature in the current era - a context within which modeling and extrapolation is both meaningful and relevant.
EAT activities include student worksheets accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.
Working with measurement in 3D - Explore and Think
This Explore and Think activity presents a different take on the measurement of volume and the study of solids. Inspired by some of Australia's most iconic scultures, cones and cylinders take on a whole new dimension.
These simple shapes lead to some complex and interesting analysis involving trigonometry and, ultmately, to the errors and issues that arise in the interaction between two and three dimensions.
EAT activities include student worksheets accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.
Working with ellipses - Explore and Think
This Explore and Think activity focusses on an ellipse-based diagram that claims to represent the percentage of green space in some of the world's cities.
A study of this diagram suggests that something is not right - and then leads to an analysis involving length and area, measurement and ratio.
EAT activities include student worksheets accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.
Stacked Exponents - Explore and Think
This Explore and Think activities looks at truely BIG numbers, and explores the idea of a "stacked exponent", how big such numbers are and how they are calculated.
EAT activities include student worksheets accompanied by solutions/teacher notes that feature step-by-step support for the use of the CASIO fx-82AU PLUS.