Domain and Range Cut and Paste Activity

My Algebra I students have been working on domain and range for the last couple of days.  I'm not completely satisfied with my lessons and really need to tweak them, however, we did do a cut and paste activity today that worked well.

For this activity, I had the students work with a partner, but they each had their own cards and answer mat.  The purpose of the partners was so that they would help each other and not rely on me to answer every little question they had.

I passed out the domain and range cards first and had them cut them out.  When everyone was almost finished, I passed out the answer mat which was made up of eight different graphs.  I asked them to place the domain and range cards onto the appropriate graph but wait to do the gluing until they checked their answers.  After about 10-15 minutes, I put the answers up on my document camera and let them start pasting their answers.

As I circulated the room, I heard lots of students say that they were finally "getting" domain and range.  In the past, one of my biggest struggles is teaching the students how to properly write the domain and range.  I will get lots of answer like -3 > x > 5 or other answers that don't really make sense.  This activity provides a way to scaffold the instruction so that they are able to focus on the concept and not worry about the correct notation.  Tomorrow, my plan is to give them eight more graphs but no answers and have them come up with the domain and range on their own.

The activity is here if you'd like to download it however, if your state requires your Algebra I students to use interval notation, you will have to edit the answer cards.