Academic Updates

Algebra 2
Algebra 2 class continues to challenge girls to understand patterns and make generalizations. Girls created colorful graphs to demonstrate patterns in transformations of common function graphs. Word problems often scary for students, but girls have been tackling increasingly difficult problems by working collaboratively and using strategies to break down problems into manageable chunks. Molly and Bird have found that talking through their steps aloud with each other is an enormous help in brainstorming and identifying errors in their reasoning. Students are learning to use more of the features of their graphing calculators, as we did when modeling linear data. Girls measured and recorded data for heights of stacks of bowls and then used their graphing calculators to create and graph an equation to show how the stack height increased with the number of bowls. We owe thanks to our cook Mvuu, who allowed us to borrow bowls from the kitchen! Most recently, girls have applied their earlier work in understanding the relationship between graphs, equations, and solutions to solve problems involving systems of linear equations.

Precalculus
Girls in Precalculus continue to develop their problem solving skills as we puzzle through applications of linear and quadratic functions. In the past several weeks, girls studied common parent functions and explored patterns in transformations of functions with a colorful graphing activity. We reviewed solving various types of equations including linear, quadratic, rational, and radical equations with a focus on understanding the process rather than memorization. Girls discovered the relationship between the quadratic formula and characteristics of the graph of a quadratic function and applied their knowledge to solve problems involving maximizing or minimizing. A graphing calculator-based investigation on the behavior of graphs of polynomials prepared students for further study of polynomials coming up the second half of the semester.

Travel Journalism

We hope you enjoy the activity blog updates from the Travel Journalism girls! In addition to working individually on their blog updates, girls continuously interview, write, revise, and re-write their articles addressing a chosen aspect of education in Africa. To gather information for their articles, girls conducted informal interviews whenever possible. Eleanor, Anne, and Ariela interviewed students at schools in Waterval Boven and the Drakensburg Mountains. Hannah interviewed people in schools and campgrounds to get various perspectives on the meaning of the South African national anthem. Emilee had a long chat with our cook Mvuu about how education in Zimbabwe has changed during his lifetime, and Ngwena talked to Natalie about his views on culture and education. In class, we discussed narrowing down topics to specific stories and focusing stories on the people involved, as well as practiced writing good leads. Ariela and Hannah led short discussions analyzing published articles to draw out lessons to be applied to our own writing. After peer-editing during the Tsitsikama trek, girls submitted the final draft of their articles as a culmination of the work for the first half of the semester.