The Function of To’ on the Navajo Nation

Abstract

When learning math, patterns is a very important concept in building and strengthening students’ understanding of math concepts taught in the middle school. At an early age, students should be encouraged to investigate the patterns they find in numbers, shapes, and even language. They should be provided opportunities to explore, analyze, create, and extend their discoveries in a variety of ways to understand patterns using charts, numbers and shapes. These types of exploration will support the student’s understanding and build their mathematical knowledge in furthering their problem solving skills. As students’ progress to higher levels of math, they will utilize what they learned to deepen their conceptualization in using functions to model relationships between quantities. In 7th and 8th grade math, pattern-based thinking is generally applied to algebra, in solving problems involving functions. Thus, my unit is developed for my 8th grade students in utilizing critical and pattern-based thinking to conceptualize math functions and applying their understanding to solve real world situations. In order to get students motivated in learning this concept I need to give some examples of how functions relate in a person’s life.