Funding for the VITAL/Ready to Teach collection was secured through the United States Department of Education under the Ready to Teach Program.
Investigations/Scott Foresman (2006)
Picturing Polygons
Investigation 1, Sessions 3 and 4: pp. 15- 23
Loading StandardsStudents are introduced to graphing on the coordinate plane, in the first quadrant, using (x, y) coordinates. This CYBERCHASE activity is motivated by a video clip in which the CyberSquad is lost, and landmarks are ambiguous. They use the map's grid to construct a coordinate system using letters and numbers.
30 minutes
Using a Coordinate Grid Video
Handout: Using a Coordinate Grid
Assessment: Level A
Assessment: Level B
Answer Key
1. Have the students work individually for this activity.
2. Tell the students that they will watch a video clip in which the CyberSquad have been separated from each other on an island. They have a map with landmarks. Ask the students to watch the video clip and tell why the CyberSquad switched from using landmarks to labeling the gridlines with letters (horizontal) and numbers (vertical).
3. Show the Using a Coordinate Grid Video , and ask the students to answer the framing question above.
4. Distribute the Handout: Using a Coordinate Grid , which gives an introduction to identifying and graphing points on a Cartesian plane, and to designating points on a Cartesian plane with coordinate pairs.
5. After students have worked the handout, discuss it with the students and stress the ordering of the (x, y) coordinates.
Assessment: Level A (proficiency): Students are asked to graph a set of points for which they are given the coordinate pairs, and to identify the coordinate pairs for a set of points shown on a grid.
Assessment: Level B (above proficiency): Students are asked to identify graphical properties of sets of points that share the same x-coordinate, the same y-coordinate, or that have the same x and y coordinates.
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