Engaging Students with a Desmos Art Project
By Libardo Valencia, Horace Greeley High School and CUNY Lehman College
Libardo Valencia
Working as a math educator for the past twelve years has taught me that an effective way to engage students is by giving them choice in how they demonstrate mastery of their learning. This past school year, as many other teachers, I taught in a hybrid model with some students in person and some others at home. With our current technology, students have access to step-by-step solutions at their fingertips to almost any problem we give them. With that in mind, one of my goals was to provide my students with activities that truly fostered authentic work.
One very successful assignment my precalculus students really enjoyed was their Desmos Art Project. They had so much fun with it that we actually had three art projects during the school year. Our first project took place after we covered polynomial and rational functions. I decided to center the project around school spirit at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, NY. Students completed different projects that went from school/team/club logos to an actual portrait of Horace Greeley. I tried keeping the instructions very general because I really wanted them to have ownership over the project. I asked for at least ten equations with different domain/range restrictions. To my surprise, many students used 30+ equations and the quality of their work was truly amazing.
Horace Greeley Art
Later on, when we finished our unit on conic sections. Students suggested that we have another Desmos Art project. Together, we decided to center the project on students’ favorite movie or book. The projects included: characters, covers, scenes, settings, and much more. The level of engagement was incredible; they were all working on something that interested them and in many cases something they were passionate about. We spent a class and a half working on their projects and students were the best tech support to other students. I also learned a few things on Desmos from my students while we were exploring together.
Favorite Movie or Book
Students found it helpful to first upload the picture they wanted to create on Desmos (as a background) and then work on writing equations for it using different domain/range restrictions. Students don’t need a Desmos account, but it is recommended that they save the link to their work. At the end of the school year, once again, students suggested we have a final Desmos project, so we did. This time the project was centered around a topic of their choice. The results were nothing but amazing!!
Free Project
As I mentioned before, I tried keeping the instructions somewhat loose because I did not want to limit my students. I honestly feel that by not giving a lot of (specific) instructions, students were empowered and had complete ownership over their projects. I have included my instructions for their final project below.
I hope you find these ideas helpful and are able to try them with your students!
Final Project Instructions: Desmos Art
Your assignment is to create Desmos art about a topic you are passionate about. Your project should include at least eight different types of functions: linear, quadratic, exponential, trigonometric, logarithmic, etc. You are not limited to the number of equations you use. Feel free to restrict any domain/range and to share in your graphs. You can also use any other functions we have learned.
You will submit:
The original picture
Desmos Link
Screenshot of Desmos project including equations
You will be graded (10 points possible) on:
Use of at least eight different types of functions (4 points)
Submitted original picture (2 points)
Submitted Desmos link (2 points)
Submitted screenshot of project with equations (2 points)
Feel free to visit https://twitter.com/MrValencia24 for more student work samples and other ideas.
Images used in this article:
Book cover from The Selection by Kiera Cass, 2013, HarperTeen.
Olaf from Frozen, 2013, Disney.
Phineas Flynn from Phineas and Ferb, 2008-2015, Disney Channel.
Michael Illustration by Curtis Simpson, September 28, 2018, https://curtisthegreat.com/the-good-place-michael-illustration/.
Libo Valencia is a mathematics educator with thirteen years of experience who lives in New York. A passionate teacher who strongly believes that understanding mathematics can help all students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, he is also known for his use of different technologies to engage his students and bring math concepts to life. He currently teaches at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, NY and also at CUNY Lehman College in the Bronx, NY.