DEV - Ellie

DEV

For my overall concepts I choose quadratics, polynomials, and rational functions, along with finding domains. I choose these concepts because I believed that they showed a good variety of what we accomplished throughout the trimester. I also thought that these concepts all had multiple ways to go about them and ways to make them more difficult.  These problems provide a great overview of my mathematical understanding because I pushed myself really hard to create problems outside of my comfort zone. For example, on my second rational problem I did a slant asymptote. I had a vague understanding of how to do this going into the project but I further enhanced my understanding of it through actually doing one. This shows I have the tool set to go farther than just the basic concepts I am familiar with. Also, in the quadratic question I did my best to include an assortment of ideas, such as completing the square, the quadratic formula, checking the vertexes and sketching the graph. I think all of this shows I have a wide understanding of all of the ideas. In my polynomial function I went further than the standard problems by making it long divide twice and making the graph have a bounce. In the first rational problem, I showed a good understanding regarding the concept of adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing and solving. I also included the domains of the problem which shows I have a good understanding of the rational unit and the first unit. In the last rational problem I showed I can factor by grouping, find all the necessary information to graph and that I am able to find the slant asymptote, which is a fairly new concept to me. I really enjoyed this project; I believe I learned a lot from it. It helped to clear up some of the ideas that were a little foggy in my mind. Also it helped me review for the final exam. This project was helpful to remember all of the concepts and how to successfully solve each problem. To conclude, I believe this project is a good representation of my math skill thus far and it helped me to review for the final exam.

Goodbye for now...

For many of you this is the last time I will see you in my classroom for the remaining years of high school.  I wish you luck and happiness.  No matter what the problem, just remember that I am always here for you.  Good luck and may the Force be with you.

DEV - Andrew and Caleb

http://prezi.com/7jorpjyptrve/present/?auth_key=61hvnk3&follow=axm2pc_uwn-o

Andrew Reflection- This project took a while and was pretty stressful for me but I made it through it and I think it helped me a lot. Reverse engineering these problems helped me better grasp the concepts of the problems that I created. I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I would finally achieve the desired results from the problem I was trying to create. It also gives me a greater appreciation to what goes into the problems that I solve in class. I also liked the challenge of trying to make my problems as complicated as possible. The problems took a lot of brain power and time. It was sometimes hard to sit down and focus that much to create the desired problems. I tried many times before to create problems but until I reversed the process I would not get the right answers. I ended up using prezi to present my project. This was my first time ever creating a prezi and it is amazing how many options you have. I will definitely be using prezi again in other classes to present projects. I hope whoever views this project will clearly understand the process by which we got our answers and will also enjoy the presentation. Overall I believe I have a better understanding of the problems and the process by which they are solved.

Caleb’s Math Reflection: When I was doing the DEV it was pretty interesting how it actually had me visiting other units, and how much I forgot about the past. I actually relearned some of the old stuff I forgot, I revisited completing the square, rationales, and others. I thought it was great how we got to choose partners without Jackson’s approval, I think it saved a lot of people from having lower grades from other people slacking. During the project we had to go backwards from the answer to the question. I really liked how Andrew and I mixed up problems too, as he did a lot of complicated problems we did in the last couple units, and I revisited the older problems, it was just teamwork in action. I actually think the DEV project might have helped me more than the review, but that’s probably an exaggeration. But overall I think the DEV project helped me with reviewing the old stuff, promoted teamwork, and actually helped me get to know Andrew more.

D.E.V. project of Jason and Cody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PopiJIHrPig


Cody Review-This project was actually a lot of fun. I enjoyed how too get a chance to choose your partners while not specifically requiring that you have one. Jason was a great partner he helped talk through possible questions with me. also he was willing to buy the iPad app to do the presentation itself. We chose the questions we did through solving through the prior units and trying to come up with a problem we ourselves would have trouble with and thus challenging us to do our best on this project. We produce the problems from every unit that show how proficient we are in each unit and all the things we learned in class.
This assignment was a great review for the exam because it made us not only go back to early units but it needed us to think about them a lot. I worked really hard on this project and I know Jason did too. I am proud of what we were able to make together.

Jason Review-This project was a lot of fun to work with Cody by creating problems, making a video and making us become the teachers. I felt like the problems we created were great problems that allowed us to show our knowledge of this math class. One problem we included all the units into one problem, question number 5. The other ones too I feel were just as complicated or more complicated then the ones we have seen this trimester. This project was a great way to review for me especially the quadratic unit. Going over the Quadratics unit with Cody. It helped me increase my understanding of my farmer ted problems which were my enemy during the quadratic unit. This project also helped me in other units too. Cody was a great partner too, we worked well together making problems, was able to lead in the presentation because I was not comfortable with the presentation and was a great partner!

Abby, Nick, Dominic D.E.V

-Dominic's Reflection
Why did you choose the concepts you did to create your problem set?
I struggled with these types of problems in the past, so i figured i would show an example of the problem to show the progress I've made and what I've learned.
How do these problems provide an overview of your best mathematical understanding of what you have learned so far?
They contain the areas that I struggled in.  Once I learned the material correctly, i was then able to build problems with it. I can go through and explain every step easily, which i couldn't do in the past.
Did you learn anything from this assignment?
This assignment wasn't much help for me, it seemed like a filler assignment.  I would have liked to spend more time reviewing other material for tests and the exam.  However, it was a great experience working with the group and trying to create our own problems from scratch.  It was certainly a challenge, but a good one.

Abby's Reflection
Why did you choose the concepts you did to create your problem set?
I chose the problems that i exceeded at and understood well so that i could accomplish the task of writing a problem myself.
How do these problems provide an overview of your best mathematical understanding of what you have learned so far?
These problems are ones that i understood and could explain out as if i was teaching and explaining to a new student.
Did you learn from this assignment?
In some ways I benefited from this but mostly it put stress on me in a time that all students have a lot of stress already. I think that it would have helped greatly if this project was introduced at the beginning of the tri so that we could write problems for each unit rather than having to do it all at once. It did not seem to improve upon my knowledge of the problems, instead it caused more stress and pressure during the beginning of exam week.

Nick's Reflection
Why did you choose the concepts you did to create your problem set?
The concepts i chose were chosen by me in the order that i understood them the most and would need the least help on.

How do these problems provide an overview of your best mathematical understanding of what you have learned so far?
i took the problems as far as i could to my understanding so i would be able to explain them as well as possible.

Did you learn anything from this assignment?
yes! i picked up on some things i didn't pay too much attention to during class and this project has helped me a ton!

D.E.V. - Matt

The DEV project was very hard and coming up with questions was even more difficult. I made my questions out of the things I was  best at and knew the most. It really helped reinforce what I already knew and helped me learn a few new things. I have learned a lot from this assignment it helped me in many ways. It helped me see what I struggle and need to work at and what I know and don't need to spend as much time on. I hope this project has readied me for the exam which I think it has.

D.E.V. Chloe, Becca, & Kaitlyn

D.E.V. project

More PowerPoint presentations from Chloe

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/chloe19cswim-1994032-project/




Becca's reflection:

I chose the concepts for my D.E.V. project by examining which units I did the best in this trimester.  I thought that since I understood these concepts the best, I could explain and execute these problems well.  I believe that these concepts helped me gain a deeper understanding of the work we learned later in the class.  When creating these problems, I tried to form questions that would first cover the basics of that unit, and then build up to complicated work that would engage the viewer and help them to learn the material in an interesting way.  I learned a few new details about rational graphs and domains during this project.  Although this project was good review on a few concepts, I believe our time would have been better spent on reviewing the entire course, not just a couple parts.  The D.E.V. project should, in future years, be introduced much earlier in the trimester because then students can get it done sooner and spend the last few weeks before the exam reviewing all of the course material.  In conclusion, the D.E.V. project is excellent review on a few select aspects of this class, however it does not cover the majority of what we learned, and therefore should be introduced to students at an earlier time.  This should allow students the last few weeks to review for the exam without having to worry about a huge project. 

Kaitlyn's Reflection:

For this project, I chose concepts that I knew I had struggled with throughout the trimester. O wanted to be able to solve and understand each concept from as many different angles as possible. I believed that this would be an excellent way for me to review for the exam which I am crazy nervous for. Because my problems did touch on at least two different units I could review more than I normally would by looking at a single concept. This also had put many problems in front of me I went about attempting to find problems in several different ways until I found one that suited the situation the best. I also learned how to check my work in different ways also. I believe that this project is a good idea, but the work load is difficult and sometimes group members do not know how to fix an answer or if the answer is even right. So finding time with another teacher is best but can be difficult but math labs always help. I did learn from this. Well at least I thought I did. I thought my problems were complicated and challenging and now I go back I see that I can problem solve a lot better and take more time on each problem to make sure it is correct. My only suggestion is put percents on the grading scale!! What range is a master grade?!

Chloe's reflection:

The problems I choose to create both had polynomials in them, which happened to be my favorite unit. Plus, polynomials take quite a bit of focus and skill, along with checking and rechecking to make sure that everything was done precisely.  Since that is so I believe that these problems represent a lot of what we learned this year, material wise, and life skill wise. My first problem showed my growth from the begging of the year because I had struggled so much with domain and x and y intercepts, and now I feel like I have a full grasp on the concept, while my second problem showed some of the concepts I understood very well and showed very well. I really did not learn anything new mathematically, but i started working with a few new pieces of technology ( at least they are new to me!). I found an app called explain everything and it showed to be quite useful. You video tape and explain a concept at the same time and has many other useful features. I also learned how to use youtube! I'm not very good at using it yet, but it is actually quite useful for school projects. This project would be better if it didn't all have to be online or if there could be an in class presentation. this makes it so people who may not have the best technology or are very tech savvy chances to be more successful in doing this project. although in class presentations take longer, it gives students an opportunity to show off their work!

Dan's and John's DEV project

Dan's and John's DEV project

Reflection:
Daniel: This project has helped me to understand and use what we've learned this trimester. We attempted to use problems that incorporated one unit per problem in the class although some of the problems overlapped we tried to make them different. while doing this project I refreshed my memory and relearned a few things that should help me on the exam. Overall this project has been an interesting assignment.

John: The DEV project was a good challenge in the sort that finding a time to do it and coming up with problems that will work. These problems were relatively difficult to create and complete. Also we tried to create one problem per unit. It was difficult to do but is possible

DEV Project - Lindsey, Jorden, Megan

DEV Project on Youtube

Order of Problems in the video:

1. Completeing the square

2. Factoring w/ GCF

3. Long division

4. finding the inverse

5. polynomial graphing

6. Solving Rationals: (Division)

Reflections:

Lindsey's Reflection:

     This project was very difficult, but It really helped my understanding of this class. I thought making the problem's was the easiest part. I understand a lot more about how to solve the problems now that we broke them down and figured out how to make them.

    My group had 3 people so we ended up making 6 problems. I chose to make two of the problems that I struggled with in beginning. Which were the long division, and factoring problems. I tried to make the problems as complex as I could, and I used a greatest common factor in one because i feel as if that is one of the hardest concepts to remember.

    I did not learn anything new from this project, but I do believe this is an important project. Its always good to practice working in groups. I think every precalc class should have to do this project. It was an excellent review for the exam, because after everyone in my group made our problems, we all had to go over them and make sure they were correct, and if they were not correct then we would go through and figure out what went wrong.

Jorden's reflection:

I thought that this project challenged me to really think of problems that were complex and showed a deeper understanding.  Even after I did the problem many times I would still find things wrong with it doing it on the white board.  I really hate group projects but it was nice that we got to choose who we worked with it made it much better.  I think that we all participated and added something to the project to make it what it is!

Megan's Reflection:

Overall the DEV project went well. My group stayed organized throughout the whole process therefore we completed it on time. I liked this project specifically because I got to be the "teacher" when going over some of the problems, and teaching something to someone else always helps you understand it more. This project as a whole was just a huge help in reviewing over everything. I enjoyed it and the people I got to work with. I got so many good things out of it and so did my group. We worked well together and are satisfied with our final project.

DEV: Harry Potter and the PreCalc Functions

Callie, Maddie, and Kaitlyn's DEV Project:

DEV- Harry Potter and the PreCalc Functions

More PowerPoint presentations from Callie Hamm

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/calliehamm-1993940-dev-harry-potter-precalc-functions/

Make sure to turn your volume up and watch the videos!!!

Callie's Reflection:

When we first started working on our DEV, as a group we went through the units and picked out what our strong points were. We then each picked two areas we thought we were good at to focus on, such as Farmer Ted-type problems, or f(g(x)), and tried to think of ways to relate them to the horcruxes in Harry Potter. I chose to do factoring through grouping, then graphing an equation and factoring through long division and perfect cubes, then graphing. I felt confident in these areas, and thought that it would be good for me to learn how to explain them. Because all of us helped each other out with problems as well as working on our own, I also feel like I have a good grasp on the other types of problems we focused on. It was good for me and my group mates to be forced to challenge ourselves with not only creating but being able to clearly explain all of these problems. It showcased our willingness to take what we've learned and apply it in more difficult problems, thereby showing our knowledge in these areas. I think this project is very helpful in that it has helped me grasp a deeper understanding of the material, as being able to teach something like this to others is a sign of being well on the way to mastering a subject. I also loved that we were able to enjoy ourselves with this project- who said that math can't be fun? Both myself as an individual and we as a group have been challenged to fully comprehend the material we're working with so as to do the best we could have. I think this project really is a great idea; it forces us as students to fully grasp the material we are working with, even needing to be able to explain it to others. 

Maddie's Reflection:

I choose to work on the Farmer Ted inspired problem and graphing rational functions. I choose these two units because I felt confident enough with each of the units to be able to create a great problem. I felt that I was able to explain the problems with help from my teammates. I tried to span each problem over more than one unit. I tried to create problems that were challenging and forced you to put in a lot of effort. It was a very stressful project, but our group was able to work together and accomplished a great project that I am proud of. We spent hours on this project and used our knowledge to complete the best project that we could do. Our group did a great job and I am proud of what we accomplished. 

Kaitlyn's Reflection:

Why did you choose the concepts you did to create your problem set?
When my partners and I were creating our problems, we decided that we wanted to cover every unit. So we split up the units between us. When we were splitting up the units we picked the ones that we were most comfortable with.
How do these problems provide an overview of your best mathematical understanding of what you have learned so far?
These problems show how my partners and I have challenged ourselves to truly understand every concept. Our explanations illustrate our understanding of each concept.  I understand how I the answers and I can explain that to other people.  Each problem shows what my partners and I have learned so far and our explainations show how we truly understand every concept.
Did you learn anything from this assignment? Was it educationally valuable to you?
I definately learned that creating problems is hard and we should give the people that do it for a living a lot of credit. This project was very valuable to me educationally. For instance, it was a great review because we had to think back to the units from the beginning of the trimester.  I needed to understand these problems very well for this project, so it enhanced my understanding a lot.  This project made me challenge myself, so I believe that it was very valuable to me.

DEV - Austin and Marisol

D.E.V. Project from aulawr14

DEV Project

Kristin, Emily, and Taylor's DEV

D.E.V.

More PowerPoint presentations from Kristin Rebera

Here's the link to our D.E.V.:
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/kristinrebera-1993974/

Taylor:

This D.E.V. project was very challenging but I believe it helped me get ready for my exam. We picked the problems we did based on the level of difficulty. We wanted to show our knowledge of lengthy and challenging problems. These problems provide an overview of what I have learned this year so far based on the amount of difficulty each one possesses. We chose problems that were even challenging to us at times, but they increased our knowledge on the topics. I learned that I know a lot more than I thought I knew while doing this project. I also learned that it is very difficult to teach  certain concepts and do it well. I believe that this project will definitely help me do better on my exam. 

Emily:
We choose the concepts demonstrated in our project because they were the concepts that we knew the best and thought would reach a broad spectrum of the learning curriculum this trimester. All of the problems we created involved two or more units of learning this year and that was a big factor in choosing what problems to include. I think the problems we chose to include really demonstrated our understanding and handwork of this trimester. We really tried to incorporate a little of every unit in order to demonstrate our full understanding of the entire trimester. I learned a lot from this project. It was a great review tool for the exam as well as helping me to fix any bugs I may have felt throughout the trimester. Kristin and Taylor did an amazing job reteaching anything I felt a little iffy on and that was a very valuable to me. Thank you for having us do this project. We may have been quite frustrated at first, and very very confused but we eventually pushed through it and worked everything out. Thanks again.

Kristin:For the D.E.V., we tried to pull concepts from the units that overlapped a little. We did a lot of work using concepts from multiple units at once, so at times we were forced to be a little creative. We also tried to make our problem set difficult, which was actually really hard to actually pull-off. Since we made tough problems that we really would not have known where to start with at the beginning of the year, we got a really nice review of the trimester in before exams. Because we had to remember how to do tough problems that covered the whole trimester, we had to think, which usually is something high school students are unwilling to do. Also it's important to note that once you can teach something to someone else, you know it quite well. I have confidence that if we get problems thrown at us on the exam like what we had on the D.E.V., we'll all be just fine. Through this assignment i learned two things: 1) Being a math teacher is a difficult and thankless job, and 2) we did more than just sit around in math class this trimester. I had a great group to work with and I'm really proud of what we accomplished.

DEV - Lucas

DEV Project from LuciusAtkinson

Reflection:
Reflecting on this assignment, I think it was a great review for the exam, and made me really get to know some precalculus concepts as I created problems, solved them, and then taught them.
Something that I found interesting was that in  order to create problems, you often have to go through them in reverse, starting with the answer. I generated questions on solving using completing the square, factoring polynomials using grouping, combining functions, and finding the domain of a radical function to cover a wide range of the material I learned in class.
Overall I enjoyed this project and liked teaching instead of learning for a change.

DEV - Vance W.

Reflection inside.

Here it is.