Jan Gebert is an Illuminations lesson plan reviewer and instructor of professional and secondary education at East Stroudsburg University. So she definitely knows a thing or two about quality lessons. Illuminations asked her for her favorite out of our 600+ lessons. What was it? An oldie but a goodie-Determining Functions Using Regression. Here's the breakdown for you:
- Day 1-Using a Calculator for Finding the Equation of a Function. Students use a graphing calculator to determine the function of best fit for a given set of data.
- Day 2-Determining Functions Using Regression: What's the Function? Students gather their own data in this second lesson to determine five different types of functions.
Gebert loves this lesson plan because "the math describes the real world. No student will ask when they will ever use this!" She's used it as a multiple-day activity in a mathematics summer camp and as a culminating activity in honors Algebra II. This professional with more than seven years' experience says, "I have used this lesson plan often, and it has wowed my students. It proves to be lots of summer fun!"