5 ways to add variety to high school math homework

A great way to help students understand and practice using graphs in statistics is to have them survey their friends and family members. After collecting data from 10 or 15 people, they can illustrate the results using the appropriate type of graph. Here are some survey topic suggestions:

• Favourite dessert (five options)
• Favourite ice cream flavour
• Favourite sport
• Types of pets
• Etc.

To help students develop a more flexible approach to problem solving, ask them to analyze the solutions to problems. Here are two ideas to try:
 

1. Ask students to solve a problem in class. Next, give each student a copy of one of their classmates’ work and have them correct it at home. This will sharpen your students’ ability to spot mistakes and enable them to better understand why certain mistakes were made. This activity can also help them put their own mistakes into perspective.
2. Use the Alloprof Help Zone. Every day, students looking for answers use this forum to submit dozens of questions related to math and other subjects. You can ask each of your students to choose a question from the Help Zone and answer it in their notebook. Then, they can compare their approach to the one used by Alloprof and make any necessary corrections. They can even contribute to the Help Zone by posting their answers!

Math is all around us. This may not be news to teachers, but students can sometimes struggle to see how what they learn in math class relates to their everyday life. One way to help open your students’ eyes is to ask them to take photos of the many ways in which math is present in our lives. In class, everyone can present their photos and explain the mathematical concepts they represent. Here are a few examples:

• Geometry: architecture, skateparks, tile patterns, etc.
• Sequences: sunflowers, romanesco, cauliflower, etc.
• Fractions: pizza, cheese, the proportion of colourful books in a library, the imperial markings on a measuring tape, etc.
• Functions: the curves of a merry-go-round, calories burned based on distance travelled, a vending machine[M1] , etc.
• Statistics: the figures from a poll shown on TV, consumption data on a utility bill, app statistics, etc.
   

When studying curves and functions, understanding how parameters affect the shape of a graph is essential. On the Alloprof website, our concept sheet on the standard form of a function includes a graph animation that can be used to visualize the shape of a function in many different ways. For example, you can ask your students to experiment by selecting a function, using the sliding bars to change the parameters, observing how these changes transform the curve and its equation, and so on.

When you want to explain a concept in more detail, videos are the ultimate tool. We offer video tutorials called Crash Lessons, including several on high school math. Crash Lessons are structured in four parts with complementary educational objectives:

1. Reviewing key concepts
2. Validating what students have learned with an interactive video
3. Challenging students to apply what they have learned with exercises
4. Suggesting related concepts

Our Crash Lesson on fractions (available in French only) makes for a terrific homework assignment, as it features practice exercises in addition to reviewing the concept.

Although our Crash Lessons are not yet available in English, we do have many math videos on our Alloprof in English Youtube channel that you can use with your students. You can easily embed one of our videos into a math lesson, or assign a video as homework and ask students to take notes. These can then be shared and reviewed in class the next day.