Lesson Planning - Rational Functions continued

Day 1 on Rational Function is tomorrow.

Students will share their research on cantilevers. That will take only a few minutes. I want students to think briefly about the possible variables in designing a cantilever.

Then we will build our own spaghetti cantilevers. Students will measure the deflection in centimeters as they hang a weight on the end of spaghetti. The variable will be the number of spaghetti pieces. We will start with just one piece, then a bundle of 2 pieces, then 3, 4, 5, up to 8 pieces of spaghetti. If our data collection is clean we will get data that creates a rational function curve. This activity will serve as the introduction to the function.

As we analyze our data, I want to make a connection to the concept of reciprocals. We will examine the linear parent function and what happens when we graph it's reciprocal.

Last, I've prepared a guide for students to examine the transformations - what happens to the parent function when a, h, or k are involved using desmos. I'm hoping students will have time to start the exploration in class and will finish it for homework.