This is a great calculus game that I saw demonstrated at the MAA/AMS joint conference in Boston in January. It was created by Teena Carroll of Saint Norbert College.
Students are in groups of 4, each with a post-it note. On the post it note, each student draws an arc that goes from one corner of the post-it to the opposite corner:
Student 1 is then asked to position their post it so that is is concave up and increasing, student 2 so it is concave down and decreasing, student three so that it is concave up and decreasing, and student 4 so that it is concrete down and decreasing.
The group then links their post-its together on the wall, in any order, and identifies points of discontinuity and inflection points.
I’m not teaching calculus this semester, so I played this game with a student I am tutoring. I was wowed at the way the game teases out the difference between concave up (positive second derivative) and increasing (positive first derivative). I’m looking forward to playing it with a whole calculus class!
Finally, I wonder if this is a game, really, or is it art? Or is it not art, but just great math? Whatever it is, it’s certainly a lot of fun and a great learning tool.
