Fostering Motivation with an Authentic Task Based Unit on Linear Modeling

Abstract

This curriculum project was created to provide teachers with additional resources to use when teaching an 8th grade unit on linear modeling. The included activities put an emphasis on grappling with new ideas, communication, and developing understanding through a project using real world mathematics. An embedded goal in the curriculum is to foster student motivation in mathematics. The main topic involves constructing scatter plots, noticing trends in the data, and constructing lines of best fit based on these trends. Recommendations are included by the author for implementing the included activities, as well as a rubric for evaluating the student projects. Aligned Common Core standards are included in the unit plan.