Category: Algebra II

Well, the time has finally come to make it official. I’m quite a bit along on the new Common Core Algebra II book and I wanted to publish the first draft of the table of contents. This is what I refer to as a unit structure or curricular outline. It does not contain a list of the individual lessons, but it does contains the overall flow of the units and what the major topics/skills sets are that are addressed within each unit.

The lesson count now stands at 105 anticipated (I wish done, but not yet). I could see that drift as high up at 110, but probably no more than that. Please use the outline here as a general guide and realize that it is a first draft.

Common Core Algebra II Unit Structure

O.k. So, after a bit of legwork, it turns out that it is not hard to post TI-83/84 programs to this site and its not even hard to have you download them.

A few days ago, I posted a document detailing three Statistics programs I wrote for the TI-83/84 to do the statistical simulations that are required in the new Common Core Algebra II. I created the simulation programs based on the simulations recommended in the G.A.I.S.E. Report (Guidelines for the Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education). The New York State Department of Education has been referencing that report highly whenever they speak of the statistics in Common Core Algebra II. Here’s another posting of the article I wrote explaining the three programs:

Unit #13.Simulation Code for TI Programs

But, now, you don’t need to type them in. I want to sincerely thank Jenn Sauer, a great educator from my neck of the woods over in the beautiful town of Saugerties. Jenn was kind enough to brainstorm the statistics a bit with me and give me super helpful suggestions on the programs themselves. Here they are for download.

MEANCOMP

PSIMUL

RANDSAMP

Save them in a safe spot where you will know where they are.

O.k. Now, how do you get them onto your calculator especially if you are not used to doing this? First things first, you need to download TI Connect. It’s free and easy. Here’s the link:

TI Connect Link

Alright, once you have TI Connect you’ll see this main screen:

You’ll need to connect your TI-84 or 83 to the computer using a USB chord. Hopefully you didn’t throw it away when you got your calculator.

TI Connect will automatically find your calculator. But, if you want to make sure, once you have the calculator plugged into the computer, turned on, and you have TI Connect open, click on the icon:

This will allow you to find the calculator and browse its contents (programs, lists, apps). The first time it looks for your calculator, it may take a bit of time. Anyhow, go back to the home screen (the one up above). Now to get those programs onto your calculator. Click on the Send to Device icon:

You will then navigate to whatever folder you stored the programs in. Select them all at once and then send them to your calculator.

It will take a little bit (maybe a minute), but TI Connect will keep you up to date on the progress.

That’s it. I hope you can use these as you prepare for the coming of statistics in Common Core Algebra II. I will be putting out an entire statistics unit in late March, so wait until then to see the full power of these programs. Until then, play around with them.

But, be sure to print out the first document I posted in this entry. It serves as the defacto users guide to the programs. Please note that the code has been slightly changed from what is in the documents. Here it is again for your convenience:

Unit #13.Simulation Code for TI Programs

P.S. I just clicked on the links, downloaded the programs and sent them to my absolutely older TI-83+ without a hitch.

So, the statistics standards in Common Core Algebra II specify a lot of use of simulation to establish confidence intervals and other statistical measures of variability. I like these standards, but was having a hard time thinking about how to really fulfill them in a meaningful way.

So, I attacked them head on. Based on work from the G.A.I.S.E. Report (google it), I created three programs for the TI-84+ operating system (they work fine on the 83+) that perform these simulations.

The first program allows you to pick a random sample from a population to calculate sample means and see their distributions. The second allows you to pull a sample from a population with a known proportion, and then see a distribution of sample proportions. Finally, the last program scrambles up treatment data to test the difference in treatment means.

I have not gotten them up on TI’s site, yet, but plan to later on in the spring. I’m offering them now, in case people want to type one or all of them into their calculators and start to really play with these simulation standards.

The document includes an explanation of the three programs and their code.

Unit #13.Simulation Code for TI Programs

So, I’ve been writing a bit of Common Core Algebra II lately. As a general principle, if there is a standard that PARCC had told us will be assessed on the EOY exam, then I will address it in the text. Will I nail all of the types of questions kids will see on any given standard? Absolutely not, and no other resource will either.

But, I tell you. Some of these standards, such as the topic of this post:

(Click on the fuzzy image above to see a clear image).

Anyhow, I worked out the lesson and homework for this particular topic. It sort of just sticks out in the middle of my unit on Polynomial and Rational Functions.

But, you know what? I like the lesson. The math geek in me took over and I tried to make it as engaging as possible, while also strengthening their algebraic manipulation skills in meaningful ways.

Here it is:

Unit #10.Lesson #5.Polynomial Identities