In this activity, students have to graph six parabolas. The graph paper is a plan of a room superimposed on a coordinate grid. Once the six parabolas have been drawn correctly, only one possible exit will be available out of the room. Students have to find that exit.

There are two versions of the game included in this download – an easier and a harder version. In the harder version, each parabola is written in standard form. In order to plot the parabola accurately, they must first be converted to vertex form by completing the square. In the easier version, all the parabolas are already written in vertex form. Both versions have the same answer, so can be used interchangeably. For example, half the class could be given the easier version and half the class the harder version.

There game can also be played in two different ways. Either, all six parabolas can all be given at once to each player, and then it simply becomes a race to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Alternatively, each player is given only one of the six parabolas and they have to trade with other players to find the remaining equations in an effort to solve the problem. In this scenario, I usually try to have all students playing the same version of the game (easier or harder).

This activity typically takes 15-20 minutes and is a great review activity. The questions feature a variety of parabolas, including horizontal and vertical translations, vertical shrinks and stretches and reflections in the x-axis.

The zip file contains a pdf of the activity, an accompanying PowerPoint and the answers.

Terms of Use

Please note: this resource is for use by one teacher only. Additional teachers must purchase their own license.