Transformations Take 2

This year my usual transformation of function investigation didn't seem to work. I suspect it was not the investigation itself, but rather my students adjusting to a new classroom culture, one where the teacher doesn't tell you everything...

We took a break from functions and function notations to work on an investigation with some toy cars (post of that may be coming if the results are half decent), but I promised the students that we would revisit the topic of transformations. Its simply too core of a topic to move on with half the students not grasping the idea.

Searching for a new way to tackle transformations, I found one it was brilliant! Then I forgot the idea and came up with this:

http://www.geogebratube.org/material/show/id/708

Using Geogebra I created a simple transformation applet (link just below the pic) allowing them to graph any function and adjust the 4 parameters, do reflections, plus the nasty bits of absolute values. Paired up with the applet was a worksheet to guide them through.

The results seem to be far more positive and constructive. They seem to understand that they will need to ask questions and do their best to organize the answers and their understanding. I will of course do a debrief afterwards and to try and scoop up one or two lost students, but "take 2" seems to be working