![]() We cheerfully arranged to meet later that day. “…that you could help me with my Desmos art project? It’s due soon and it’s really hard.” “Do you think…” she paused, and then started again with lowered voice. She had an impressively high growth score on last year’s state test. She now advocates for support when she’s feeling confused. I’ve known her for years, and I’m enormously proud of her mathematical journey. “Aww, I miss working with you, too!” I gushed. Laib!!! I miss working with you!” Last year, she was in a section of 7th grade that I co-taught, and I saw her in a small group for part of the school year. Nora had been wrestling with her feelings around the transition from our little K-8 school to the town’s only high school, and so she was working on a nostalgic rendition of the PBS Kids logo, a fixture of her youth. Sebastian had designed a Puerto Rican flag to honor his heritage. Within a few days, graphs were shaping into true artwork. ![]() (Outline a set of points, and the Desmos graphing calculator will shade the interior!) Then, after students had mucked about with inequalities for a few days, she introduced the polygon tool as an inefficient way to color in areas. The next day, she taught them how to create a custom color. She gave them formulas to help create unfamiliar figures, like circles and ellipses. and then breadcrumbed different techniques over the course of the week. The classroom teacher had given some loose constraints - use at least 8 linear equations, use at least 4 inequalities, use at least 4 horizontal lines, etc. It is a glorious capstone to their K-8 math experience at our school. Here is the work of the Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 students at my school.In the last week of two of school, the 8th graders worked on Desmos art projects. What would you change about the project?.What did you like the most about the project?.Two “Reflection” screens for after the project was finished.Example screens that taught them how to restrict and color their graphs (and more) for them to examine and play with.A link to Learn Desmos so they can use more advanced equations.I had them print out their Desmos Art, and I made a huge collage of it on my wall in the back of the room. After they finished the project, I turned on the “Reflection” slides so they could fill those out. I used teacher pacing, and restricted the screens to 1 – 5 during the project. By using an Activity Builder, I was also able to include the instructions for the projects and helpful tips for them. Having them do the project through an Activity Builder helped me manage all of their graphs so I could easily view them and access them for help. To keep all of their art projects in one place, I created a Desmos Activity Builder for the project. I loved how excited they were about creating their art! I have done this with students in Pre-Algebra and up, but you could change the project to make it appropriate for lower grade levels by having them graph only lines, or having them plot points in a Desmos table and connect them. It was a blast for me and a great learning experience for them. They came to me outside of class to learn how to graph certain functions, restrict their graph, and color in their art. My students loved the art they saw on Desmos, and were excited to create their own pictures. I showed them examples from Staff Pics, Creative Art to motivate them and give them ideas. Last year I had my students create an art picture using Desmos.
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