Padlet - Helping Algebra Students Understand Absolute Value Functions

I am currently not in the classroom, however, I was lucky enough to take the Practitioner Badge course with a teacher in my building, Winona Wilson.  That being said, we worked together to create 21st Century activities and lessons that were implemented in her 8th grade Algebra class.  I am grateful that I was able to work with someone currently in the classroom so I could actually see designed lessons and activities implemented.

One of the activities that was designed and implemented with 21st Century Learning in mind was the use of Padlet to help students to identify and understand what happens to the graph of the function y = a|x-h| + k when a, h or k are not zero.

For this activity students were given an absolute value equation, which they then had to graph using an electronic graphing tool in addition to the parent function y = |x|.  The students then copied their graph containing the two functions onto a Padlet post and described the transformation that occurred between the parent function and transformed function they were given.

This activity focused on the 21st Century Competencies of Use of Technology for Learning and Knowledge Construction.

• Technology supported students' knowledge construction in this activity because the electronic graphing tool allowed students to focus on the transformations that occurred between the parent function and function they were given instead of the actual graphing of the function.  When students are asked to graph both the parent and transformed function without the aide of an electronic graphing tool, there is a greater probability they will graph one or both of the functions incorrectly, which will make it challenging to describe the transformations that occur when a, h and k are not zero.  Furthermore, using Padlet allowed students to see a variety of transformed absolute value functions at once and see the transforming effects for different values of a, h and k without having to graph them all, electronically or by hand.
• The primary purpose of this activity was that students construct knowledge; how is the graph of y = |x| affected when transformed.  Instead of telling students what effect(s) a, h and k would have on the graph of the parent function y = |x|, they had to discover the patterns themselves. 

The link to the Padlet is http://padlet.com/wrwilson/ynk7s6u2uh2h.