Algebra 1: Shark Attack

This activity introduces the students to both forms of the Point-Slope form of an equation. Students will use the Transformation Graphing App to experiment with each part of the equation one at a time in order to understand the changes that take place as each number changes.

Problem 2 introduces a contextual problem so that students now think about the ordered pairs as data points, and the slope as a rate of change. In this case, the growth of a child is used. Students will calculate the slope, write the equation in point-slope form, and then graph the equation with the ordered pairs. From the graph, they will be able to make “predictions.”

Students will repeat the same process for Problem 3 where they will investigate the total body length and the fork length of a shark.