Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Will Froggy get to the other side of the Lake? Solving Trig Equations.


WILL FROGGY GET ACROSS THE LAKE?


Froggy is a mechanical toy Frog.  He follows a sine wave path surfacing every 12 feet.  He dives down 7 feet from the surface along his path.  He is trying to get across Lake Tad which is 120 feet wide..  There is one problem, actually two.  There are two shallow places in the lake that if Froggy hits will break.  That's right.  Froggy will not make it if he hits those shallow spots.   The first low spot is 24 feet from the starting spot.  The second low spot is 51.5 feet from the ending spot.  The video actually will tell you a possible way of solving and the answer.  This is definitely not the only way to solve this question.
Click Here to get the Frogger Worksheet


This activity helps students put a few skills and concepts together.  They need to know how to build a trig equation.  They need to know how to graph a trig equation.  They need to recognize the periodic nature of the trig equation to spot the answer farther out on the graph.  

I had my students make a video of their answer.  I checked out the iPad cart for the day and had students make their videos on the app called DOCERI.  We then uploaded them to our content management system called CANVAS.  At the bottom of this blog, I am giving you an example of one of the solutions.


STUDENT SOLUTION

All the best,
Dave

2 comments:

Teri Ferguson said...

Dave, would you offer some insight into why you or your school/district chose Canvas versus Moodle, Blackboard, or another comparable product. This is the first time I have heard of Canvas, so I would like more info. Thank you.

Dave Sladkey said...

We looked at three different Content Management Systems: Blackboard, Schoology, and Canvas. We had teachers trial them all. There was a meeting with the district and Canvas was deemed the best choice. I wasn't at the meeting, but I think of the three they picked the best one. Hope this helps.