After students get somewhat used to exponential functions and nice neat numbers, I like using this activity. It helps students use what they know about a situation to come up with an ideal equation but then to fiddle with it in order to find a better fit.
The process begins by pairing up and playing with pennies (my handouts are at the bottom of this post). I need to be up front with you--you need a lot of pennies. I have a large yogurt container full of pennies and I normally run out. Because I don't have an infinite supply of pennies I have groups alternate whether they start with the growth or decay portion of the activity.
To model growth, each group starts with 10 pennies and then drops them on the desk. Students count the number of pennies heads up and then add that many pennies to the next drop. This process happens a total of 7 times and by the end groups have a desk full of pennies. Think of a lot of pennies, then think bigger. My highest group had something like 220 pennies by the end.
To model decay, each group starts with 100 pennies and then drops them on the desk. Students count the number of pennies heads up and then takes away that many pennies for the next drop. Again, the process happens 7 times. This one is a whole lot more manageable. By the end it's not unusual for groups to have a 0 as the last value in the table.
The process begins by pairing up and playing with pennies (my handouts are at the bottom of this post). I need to be up front with you--you need a lot of pennies. I have a large yogurt container full of pennies and I normally run out. Because I don't have an infinite supply of pennies I have groups alternate whether they start with the growth or decay portion of the activity.
To model growth, each group starts with 10 pennies and then drops them on the desk. Students count the number of pennies heads up and then add that many pennies to the next drop. This process happens a total of 7 times and by the end groups have a desk full of pennies. Think of a lot of pennies, then think bigger. My highest group had something like 220 pennies by the end.
To model decay, each group starts with 100 pennies and then drops them on the desk. Students count the number of pennies heads up and then takes away that many pennies for the next drop. Again, the process happens 7 times. This one is a whole lot more manageable. By the end it's not unusual for groups to have a 0 as the last value in the table.
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After collecting the data, students come up with an ideal equation to model the situation. We have to talk through this one. Students should not use the information in their tables to find this equation. I want them to think of the situation and tell me what the equation should look like: growth, y=10(1.5)^x and decay, y=100(.5)^x. Then I have students use their calculators to create a scatterplot of the data and graph the equation at the same time (step-by-step instructions on the handout). This is where we talk about needing to find a better equation. Some students use their tables to find and average growth factor. Some students just tweak the equation on the graphing calculator. Either way leads to a good discussion of the process of modeling and the messiness of real data.
The kids have fun. I have fun. And it all happens in 42 minutes.
The kids have fun. I have fun. And it all happens in 42 minutes.
| Exponential Growth 
| Exponential Decay
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