Rene Descartes Lesson Plans

In this lesson students examine how to construct a coordinate plane, graph ordered pairs, name the coordinates, identify the quadrants, and create a picture using ordered pairs. They view video clips and utilize worksheets imbedded in this plan.

5th graders explore the method of plotting ordered pairs. In this 4-quadrant grid lesson, 5th graders consider how to plot the negative numbers that are noted in some ordered pairs. 5th graders practice plotting ordered pairs in the 4 quadrants after their instructor has modeled the process.

Students explore analytic geometry.  In this geometry lesson, students use analytic geometry to investigate the attributes of geometric figures.  Students investigate the slopes of lines and the length of line segments as they structure and analytic proof to show that a quadrilateral is a parallelogram. 

Learners examine planetary movement and its relation to the tide.In this gravity lesson learners describe how and why the high and low tides change every day.

In this lesson learners work as Biographical Scene Investigators. In this investigative reporting lesson, learners identify heroic individuals selected from the provided list and keep their own evidence notebooks regarding the actions of their subject. In this lesson learners research print and Internet sources for evidence of the subject's heroic actions.

6th graders probe the main concepts of the Age of Enlightenment in this five lesson unit. The great thinkers and their ideas form the basis of this exploration into the philosophy used to help form our nation.

Students use a quotation from Einstein as a reference to categorize their descriptions as either Newtonian or Aristotelian. They discuss the idealized nature of the Newtonian approach. Students describe the events they observe when an object is dropped.

In this lesson students graph polynomial functions with a degree higher than two. In this algebra lesson, students identify the function represented by a graph and find the zeros and intercepts.

In this lesson 9th graders examine the impact of the sciences and technology. They identify the effect of agriculture inventions on society, create a newspaper documenting the Industrial Revolution, write an obituary, and watch and discuss a video.

Students use coordinate grid paper to plot points and identify shapes that are already plotted on the paper by saying their coordinates. In this coordinates lesson plan, students also measure the distance between points and play the game Battleship.