Creating a measure of slope

This resource develops the concept of a mathematical understanding of slope. This is done through linking students’ intuitive understandings of steepness to a more precise mathematical calculation of slope.

The resource begins by presenting students with four cards showing line segments, and a further four cards giving coordinates for end points. The idea is that students take an informal approach to deciding on ordering the cards according to slope. Some examples of student work is given for peer assessment and discussion. Students discuss different possible measures of slope.

There are pre-lesson and post-lesson formative assessment tasks. Detailed teacher notes give suggestions on questioning and how to use the resources. Full solutions are given for each of the sections.

This is a concept development lesson from the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service, a collaboration between UC Berkeley and the Shell Centre team at the University of Nottingham. Further information on the collection is given here.