Students love when teachers bring food to math class! Get your students to practice and apply their linear graphing skills with enthusiasm by giving them this fun marshmallow linear graphing activity. Includes 2 tasks which can be assigned the same day or on different days depending on the skill of the class. Task #1 Students will work in groups of four to make a table and graph to represent the calories in marshmallows by reading and interpreting a nutrition label. Then they will answer a series of questions in which they will use the slope formula, write a linear equation, and use the linear equation to find the calories in given amounts of marshmallows. Task #2 Students will continue working to make a table and graph to represent the height in centimeters of a stack of one, two, three, and more marshmallows. Then they will answer a series of questions in which they will use the slope formula, write a linear equation, and use the linear equation to find the height in centimeters for given amounts of marshmallows. A perfect application for linear skills whether your school is Common Core or not. 8.F.A.2, 8.F.B.4, 8.F.B.5, HSF-IF.B.6 Note: Students should have had some previous experience with slope-intercept form of the line, and slope formula before attempting this activity. This activity uses rounding, line of best fit in a very introductory way, and whole number slopes only. PLEASE NOTE: The student work will vary depending on how they scale their y-axis and depending on which points they choose for finding the slope. Therefore there is no key.
