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How did I teach this skill?
I used pictures. The students had fun, and looked forward
to these activities.
My Coordinate Graphing program
gives students many options for drawing pictures by entering
the coordinates of lines and circles.
Although
this program is intended to be used to draw pictures, it is
not a Paint program.
The student enters starting and ending points of a line, by
typing the coordinates.
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Or
the coordinates and diameter of a circle can be typed.
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Three
different levels of graphing (and drawing with the graphing
coordinates) are offered:
The beginning
level presents a graph that matches the 4th grade curriculum,
with only positive numbers on the X and Y axes. (Parents,
I'm using terms that you did not see in 4th grade, but they
are taught in today's schools.) The graphs you see above are
beginning level.
Intermediate level introduces a grid with both positive and
negative numbers, which is now included in the 6th grade curriculum.
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Advanced level offers a more challenging graph (with a larger
scale of positive and negative numbers).
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Many color choices are offered, so that virtually any color
combination can be achieved.
This image shows graph color choices at beginning level. The
area around the graph can also be changed, as can the colors
of the lines and circles.
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To encourage
students to want to progress to higher levels, more color options
are offered at Intermediate and Advanced Levels (not only graph
colors, but more line and circle colors).
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Advanced
level also offers choices for the thickness of the lines
or circles.
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Interactive tutorials are available for drawing lines (tutorials
are available at all three levels).
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And there are circle tutorials at all three levels.
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Students may save their pictures (as .bmp files), or print
their pictures.
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They may also view work of other students.
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Here is a stunning example, done by Steven,
a 12 year old home schooled student.
This was done at Advanced level.
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This picture
was done by a 4th grade boy. He drew space ships, then carefully
planned laser shots to take out enemy ships.
This was done at Beginning Level.
The careful planning of the placement of the ships and the laser
attacks gave him a strong intuitive knowledge of the coordinate
graphing system.
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$39.50
Screen saver showing the progression of student
sample pictures is included. |
