Annotated Summary of Units
We have divided our units into two general levels. Level 1 is appropriate for students who are beginning algebra and are just becoming comfortable with the use and manipulation of symbols. This would include students in Introductory Algebra and beginning Intermediate Algebra. Level 2 is appropriate for students with some experience with algebra. Most students in Intermediate Algebra students and Precalculus students would be sufficiently sophisticated for these materials. To decide in which of those two levels are more appropriate for your students, consider (a) reading level, (b) the mathematical needs of your students, and (c) the complexity of expressions due to working with some of the data.
We have not listed the units by course since the level of courses varies from institution to institution.
Below is a list of units by level, including the date the student version was last revised. A more detailed description of each unit, along with downloading instructions, is given on the individual pages.
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Level 1:
- Genetic Factors: Effects on Medication: (Real) 1 day. Studies y=k/x and the meaning of asymptote. Uses fact that elimination rate for some drugs varies by population. This was last edited on 9/10/98.
- Computing Speed: (Hands-on) 1/2 day. Relates horizontal and vertical speed of falling object. Involves dist/rate/time and y=at^2. This was last edited on 9/21/98.
- Stacking cups: (Hands-on) 1/2 day. Study of linear equations, giving physical significance to slope and y-intercept. This was last edited on 9/15/98.
- Trivial Pursuits and Algebraic Models: (Hands-on) 1 day. Introduction to solving word problems. This was last edited on 9/3/98.
- Money Investigation 1 & 2: (Hands-on) Money 1 is 1 day. Helps students understand four basic binary operations in algebraic expressions, solve linear equations in 1 variable. This was last edited on 9/25/98.
- Money Investigation 2 (Hands-on) 1 day. Helps students understand the use of the distributive property in solving linear algebraic expressions. This was last edited on 9/25/98.
- Money investigation 3: (Hands-on) 1 day. Introduction to the coordinate axis, including plotting points, writing linear functions algebraically, relating slope and y-intercept to context. This was last edited on 10/2/98.
Level 2:
- A Study of Malaria and Sickle Cell Anemia: (Real) (Hands-on) 2-3 class days. Maximization of quadratics using symmetry and factoring. This was last edited on 4/15/99.
- Alcohol and Your Body: (Real) 1-2 days. Study of rational functions, and horizontal and vertical asymptotes. This was last edited on 4/15/99.
- Reading This Could Help You Sleep: Caffeine in Your Body: (Real) 1 day. Introduction to exponential functions using elimination of coffee from system. Includes half-life and conditionally defined functions. This was last edited on 9/10/98.
- Get the Lead Out: (Real) 1 day. Uses logarithms as way of "undoing" or solving exponential equations in study of build-up and elimination of lead from the body. This was last edited on 4/15/99.
- So Much Coffee, So Little Time: More on Caffeine in the Body: (Real) 1 day. This unit involves solving systems of linear equations. The unit "Reading This Could Help You Sleep" is a prerequisite. This was last edited on 9/10/98.
- Light's Speed in Water: (Hands-on) (Real) 2 days. Students compute the speed of light in water and understand why light reflects back if below a critical angle. It involves investigations of functions with a parameter and Pythagorean theorem. This was last edited on 9/3/98.
- Prescribing Medications: Complicating Factors: (Hands-on) (Real) 2 days. Introduces solving linear systems of 2 equations in two unknowns, with follow-up involving 3 equations and 3 unkowns. This was last edited on 9/21/98.