2 Truths and a Lie - Quadratic Style

I found the idea on Twitter from @MrOrr_geek and his blog post.

Here is my worksheet with 5 Quad equations for 2 Truths and a lie.

This was for Accelerated Algebra 1.  I taught the first day on graphing quadratics from vertex form and transformations.  The second day was on graphing quadratics from standard form, with transformations and all properties. So, they had a ton of new vocabulary to put to use.  I thought 2 Truths and a Lie would be a great lesson opener for our third day which was practicing graphing.

I had 5 class groups of 4-5 kids each. They each got a giant white board and one equation.  I gave each group a letter for their whiteboard.  They were asked to write the equation on the board and create two truths and one lie and number them 1 - 3.  It went more quickly than I thought it would.  They liked having it on the white board so they could work out the real answers and then decide what they would put as their lie.  Overhead: "no, that's too easy". "Yeah, that is a good one."

Here are one class's results:
        

   

Then, they propped the giant whiteboards around the room and got single, smaller whiteboards and did a galley walk around - no talking allowed, this part was individual.  I asked them to look at the other four boards and write down the lies.



Finally, we discussed each board.  By show of hands we went through each possibility to see what the other students thought.  The kids whose problem it was enjoyed seeing if they could stump the class.  Overall, the guessers did well.  We also discussed which one was the hardest to determine. 

I think the kids liked the activity.  It put their vocab to use and showed their understanding of the properties.

Next, we moved onto two desmos activities: Polygraph and Marbleslides.

Students:
"Oh, I love Desmos!"
"I love polygraph."
"I like this.  It is my favorite math activity."
"It makes my heart race."

While they worked on polygraph, they are always quiet at first, trying to figure things out - how to ask the yes or no question, but then they get going.  They love being surprised by whom they are paired with. 
They get mad when the other person doesn't ask a correct type of question.  "Is it a parabola?"  Dude, they are all parabolas. 

Again, another great way to practice their vocabulary.  There were a lot of questions about "is it vertically stretched?" "Is it vertically compressed?"  I like that I can hear their conversations in the classroom and see them on the desmos dashboard.



They complement each other "These are really good questions." 

Finally, it was onto marbleslides.  I wish we had more time but they loved it as well.  When I use marbleslides, I do 2 kids on one computer.  I tell the kids "2 brains vs. desmos".  The paired conversations are priceless as they argue over what number to change or which direction they need to move in, but man, that simple little "success" word is very gratifying.  They love it!

Paired up on desmos:


Thanks Desmos.