Using Models

to Build an
Understanding
of Functions

ROM THE TIME THAT STUDENTS ENTER KINDERGARTEN

and throughout their early elementary school years, they

should have multiple experiences exploring patterns. The
study of patterns for middle school students should shift to
the study of functions (NCTM 1989). The question that this
article addresses is how to plan and organize instruction for
middle-grades students to help them develop an understanding of function.
Middle school students experiences with function should be
based on problems that incorporate manipulative materials and involve students in collecting data. The problems should lead students to build connections between the concrete model and the numerical patterns or functional relationships observed in the data.
Students should work through multiple problems that build on one
another and enable students to abstract significant mathematical
ideas from the work.
The teachers role in this type of instruction is first to identify
good problems and organize them in a sequence that builds on previous problems. Teachers need to lead students in discussion, asking questions to help clarify the mathematics and draw connections
among different problems. The problems should be rewarding to
do, but students must move beyond the fun with
K A T H L E E N C R A M E R the hands-on aspects of the activities and see the
mathematics. The role for the middle school
teacher is essential: to help make the mathematics explicit.
The three problems presented here, taken together, foster an
understanding of the characteristics of linear, quadratic, and exponential functions. These problems ask students to examine patterns in tables, find function rules, look at graphs, and find similarities and differences within and across the three types of functions.
The problems presented in this article were adapted from materials
used in two teacher-enhancement projects to help primary and
middle school teachers develop a deeper understanding of functions. The problems were adapted by teachers for use with middle
school students. Although this article addresses activities for middle school students, functions can be made accessible to students
on a number of levels. Regardless of the grade level of the students, the mathematics should be embedded in problems that involve concrete models, and students should use informal language
to describe patterns and functional relationships before using symbolic notation. Students should reflect on the similarities and differences among these problems.
Mrs. Lins classes in a Minneapolis middle school recently
worked on the problems described in this article. The examples
from students work are included.

Linear Function Problem

THE PROBLEM IN FIGURE 1 IS AN EXAMPLE OF A MANIPULATIVE-

based exercise that models a linear function. Figure 1 also shows

the format for all problems. Students are presented with a task, and
KATHLEEN CRAMER, [email protected], teaches mathematics

education courses at the University of WisconsinRiver Falls, River Falls,

WI 54022. She is especially interested in developing mathematics content
courses for elementary school teachers.
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MATHEMA TICS TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Copyright 2001 The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. www.nctm.org. All rights reserved.
This material may not be copied or distributed electronically or in any other format without written permission from NCTM.

Number Patterns from Cutting String

Fold a piece of string in half. While it is folded, make 1 cut. How many pieces of string do you have? Continue with another piece of string folded in half, making 2, 3, 4, and 5 cuts. Complete the table below.

cut line

# of cuts

# of pieces
Questions
1. Describe patterns that you observe in the table.

2. Without cutting the string, use the pattern from the table to determine the number of pieces for 6
cuts, 7 cuts, and then 8 cuts. Describe how you use patterns in the table to do this. [Find more than
one way to extend the table.]

3. It is possible to predict the number of pieces given the number of cuts. Describe in words how to determine the number of pieces for 20 cuts.

4. What if you had 21 pieces, how many cuts did you make? Describe how you solved this problem.

5. Extension: Fold the string like this:

Cut line
Predict how many pieces you would have if you made 1 cut, 2 cuts, 3 cuts. Verify your predictions by actually cutting string. Build a table of data, and record the patterns that you see in the table. Find the pattern that will predict the number of pieces, if you know the number of cuts.
Adapted from Sobel and Maletsky (1975)

Fig. 1 Problem modeling a linear function

V O L . 6 , N O . 5 . JANUARY 2001

311

they collect data using manipulative materials.

Guiding questions ask students to describe multiple patterns using informal language, then to consider the functional relationships represented by
the data. Figure 2 shows a sample of Williams
work on this problem.
Most of the middle school students in this class
described similar patterns. Notice that William describes patterns going across the table (bottom
numbers are all odd and go up by 2), as well as the
function rule (if you do the top 2 + 1 it equals the
bottom number). Other examples of students language to describe patterns for this string activity
follow. Note that the quotations show exact student
wording and spelling.
Theirs always 2 pieces more every time we cut a piece
of string.
Each time you cut one more it goes up by two. Times
the number of cuts by 2 plus one. The number of cuts
plus the next number of cuts equals pieces for the
original.
It skips by 2s @ the bottom, and not @ the top.
The number of pieces = the number of cuts 2 + 1
more.
# of pieces = # of cuts + (# of cuts + 1).
The difference between # of cuts and pieces keeps
going up by 1.

Problem adapted from Sobel and Maletsky (1975)

Fig. 2 Student work for the Cutting String Problem

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MATHEMATICS TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

After students complete the problem in cooperative groups, they should have opportunities to
share their work with the class. The problem is
open ended to allow all students to participate at
some level. One method of sharing is to record on a
large chart the patterns that students find. During
this whole-group discussion, students should see
similarities and differences among the patterns that
each group describes. The teacher can ask students to use their patterns to predict what the data
set would look like if it continued to follow the patterns. A number of ways to make this prediction
will come out of the discussion. The teacher can
ask students to explain the connection between the
patterns they described and the concrete model.
The classes that worked on this problem made the
following connections during whole-group sharing
times:
The number of pieces is always odd because of the
extra piece at the end.
The number of pieces increases by two each time1
cut makes 2 pieces and you are cutting it one more
time.
The number of pieces is # of cuts 2 + 1 since you fold
it the piece where its folded is one piece. The string is
folded when you cut it so its two times.

The teacher should focus students attention on

two important patterns. First, the teacher should
highlight the pattern going across the table, that is,
as the number of cuts increases by one, the number
of pieces increases by two. When students examine
other linear relationships, they should see that an
increase by some constant amount is a characteristic of all linear functions. The other important pattern to highlight is the symbolic function rule. This
rule generalizes the number of cuts to all possible
cases. Teachers can build on the students language and help them translate their words into algebraic symbols. Any of the students descriptions
of this function rule that are noted above can easily
be translated to P = 2C + 1, where P = number of
pieces and C = number of cuts.
Once the symbolic function rule has been established, teachers can ask students to identify
which of the many patterns that they discovered
can be used to extend the table to 100 cuts. Students will conclude that the function rule, P = 2C +
1, is the most efficient pattern. Asking how many
cuts would be needed to yield 309 pieces focuses
students attention on the related function rule for
the data set, that is, C = (P 1)/2. Students usually
divide first, but when they think about the problem concretely, they can see that to work backward one must subtract the extra piece first, then
divide by 2.

Number Patterns from Trains of Equilateral Triangles

Using green pattern blocks, form the first three triangles shown below. Notice that the triangles formed
from the equilateral green triangles are also equilateral.

Questions
1. Construct the fourth triangle in the series. If the unit area is 1 green triangle, what is the area of each
of the four triangles built? Record the resulting areas in the table below:
Triangle number

Area in green triangle

2. Describe patterns that you observe in the table.

3. Predict the area of triangle 5. Verify by building it.

4. It is possible to predict the area of the triangle, given the triangle number. Describe in words how
you could determine the area of the 20th triangle in the series.

5. Translate the rule into an algebraic equation for the nth triangle in the series.

6. The area of an equilateral triangle is 441 green triangles. To what triangle number would this area be
matched? Explain how you determined the answer.

Adapted from Roper (1988)

Fig. 3 Problem modeling a quadratic function

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313

Quadratic Function Problem

THE PROBLEM IN FIGURE 3 GENERATES A QUAD-

ratic relationship, A= T 2, where A = area and T = triangle number. Figure 4 shows Anyas response to
the problem. Other students gave similar responses when asked to describe patterns going
across the table. Examples include the following:
The numbers in between the area in the green triangles keep adding 2.
The numbers go odd, even, odd.
Goes in odd numbers1, 3, 5, 7, 9 [in terms of added
triangles]. The amount of increase is an odd number.
Growing faster than other tables.
Triangles grew: 1 1 + 3 1 + 3 + 5.
Odd numbers and the next odd number 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 +
9 etc.

Students noted important patterns. They explained that the areas of the triangles grew at a
faster rate than the numbers of pieces did in the
previous string problem. Growth was connected
with the concrete model; each new layer for the
next larger triangle was the next odd number. For
example, because triangle 2 has a bottom row of
three green triangles, triangle 3 will have a bottom row of five green triangles, which is two more
than triangle 2. Triangle 4 will have a bottom row
of seven, which is two more than five. This pat-

tern continues as each larger triangle is built. The

area did not grow at a constant rate, as the number of pieces did in the string problem, but students noted that the area grew by consecutive
odd numbers.
In a whole-group discussion, the teacher can
build on students patterns to clarify the differences between patterns in tables for linear functions compared with those for quadratic functions.
For linear functions, the dependent variable grows
by a constant amount. Quadratic functions grow at
a faster rate. In this example, the dependent variable grew by the pattern 1, 3, 5, 7, 9; a constant difference is observed in this growth. This secondorder constant difference is a characteristic of
quadratic functions.
Students should also observe that the area values are square numbers. Students described this
function rule in a variety of ways:
Area = number2.
The area is the triangle number square.
The top number multiply by itself to get area in green
triangles.
1 1 = 1; 2 2 = 4; 3 3 = 9; 4 4 = 16; 5 5 = 25 the
top # times itself = the bottom #.

This quadratic rule is easy for students to discover, and the connection with recording the rule
symbolically comes quickly. Students should be
asked to compare the rules from the string problem, noting that the rule for the triangle problem involves an exponent.
At this point, students should graph the functions from both problems. Spreadsheets and graphing calculators can facilitate the graphing component of the lessons. In their mathematics journals,
students can describe what the function rule for
each problem looked like when graphed on a coordinate graph. Students can then summarize the differences among the graphs, patterns found in the
tables, and rules for each problem.

Exponential Function Problem

THE PAPER-FOLDING PROBLEM IN FIGURE 5 IS

Problem adapted from Roper (1988)

Fig. 4 Sample of student work on the Triangle Problem

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MATHEMATICS TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

an example of an exponential function. As students

solve this problem, they notice that the patterns in
this table differ from patterns examined in each of
the previous problems. They observe how quickly
the number of regions grows. Students may also
recognize a doubling pattern in the table and wonder why no constant differences can be found as
they look down the data in the column labeled
Number of regions.
Students will likely comment that the number of
folds is multiplied by 2 each time. Students from

Paper-Folding Patterns
Take a piece of paper, and fold it in half as many times as you can. After 1 fold, there will be 2 regions.
How many regions will occur after 3 folds? Four folds? How many folds are possible? Complete the
table below. Imagine that there is no limit to the number of folds possible.
# of folds

# of regions

0
1
2
3
4
5
Questions
1. Describe patterns found in the table.

2. Describe how the number of regions is related to the number of folds. Translate this relationship into
an algebraic rule. Use this rule to determine the number of regions given 18 folds.

3. Add another heading to the table: Area of the smallest region. Complete the table under this heading.

4. Describe patterns observed in the table. How is the area related to the number of folds? Describe the
relationship algebraically.

5. Graph both relationships. How are they alike? Different?

Adapted from Phillips (1991)

Fig. 5 Problem modeling an exponential function

V O L . 6 , N O . 5 . JANUARY 2001

315

Patterns with Squares:

Area and Perimeter

Developing Picks Theorem

Using orange pattern blocks, build the

first three trains shown below:

Explore the patterns involving area of

polygons on a geoboard with 0 pegs inside the polygons formed.
No. of Pegs on
the Boundary
3
4
5
6
7
8

Build trains 4, 5, and 6. Draw a picture

of each one. Find the area and perimeter of each train, and record the results in two tables.
Adapted from Roper (1988)

Area

Adapted from Davis (1966)

Tower Puzzle
The object of this puzzle is to transfer the discs from the center peg to another peg, ending
with discs in the same order.

The rules are these: only 1 disc can be moved at a time; a larger disc cannot be placed on
top of a smaller one. Try the puzzle for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 discs.
Is there a relationship between the number of discs and the least number of moves possible
to transfer the pile?
Adapted from Davis (1966)

Peg Game
The object of this puzzle is to interchange the dark and white pegs. You must move the
pegs according to these rules:
The dark pegs must move only to the right; the white pegs, to the left. You can move only
one peg at a time. You can move a peg into an adjacent hole. You can jump, but only a single
peg of the opposite color.

Try the puzzle for 1 pair, 2 pairs, 3 pairs, and 4 pairs of pegs. Is there a relationship between
the number of pairs of pegs and the minimum number of moves?
Adapted from Davis (1966)

Fig. 6 Other sample problems that develop function concepts with concrete models
316

MATHEMATICS TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Mrs. Lins class described this pattern in a variety

of ways:
# of regions doubles every time.
Each region double it up by 2 each time.
Except for 0, # of folds 2 = # of regions.
It doubles every time the number is folded in half
therefore the regions double.
Each time you fold it, it doubles.

Some students related this idea to actual paper

folding, as shown in the last two students comments.
To translate their understanding of this doubling pattern into a symbolic function, the teacher may need
to connect the idea to the paper folding, as follows:
If I start with no folds, then I have one region and, with
one fold, I have two regions (1 2). If I fold again, each
previous region is doubled; this idea is the same as (1
2) 2. If I fold again, each previous region will be doubled; this idea is the same as (1 2 2) 2. What happens if I fold a fourth time? A fifth time? What numerical
relationship seems to hold true between the number of
folds and the number of total regions? Describe this relationship in your journal.

The students in these classes were able to describe the function in words: # of 2 multiplied is

same as the number of folds, 2 to the exponent of

the # of folds = # of regions, 2 (power of # of folds). The
students found that translating their words into symbols, y = 2 x, was difficult, however, and had to be led
to this new type of symbolic notation by the teacher.
This kind of instruction was usually not needed for
the function rules in the previous examples.
Again, students should graph the function; record
in their journals the characteristics of the patterns,
symbolic function, and graph for the exponential
function; and describe differences among all three
examples. Students will need help to understand
how to evaluate 2 0 and to graph values for x < 0.
A graphing calculator would work well for this
purpose.
Once students have had experiences with the three types of
functions, they should look at
other examples. Figure 6 shows
four other problems. Patterns
with Squares: Area and Perimeter
provides examples of linear and
quadratic functions. Developing
Picks Theorem is an example of
a linear function, the Tower Puzzle is an example of an exponen-

Students
were able to
describe the
function in
words

Cutting String
(Condition 1)

Equilateral Triangles

Peg Game

Patterns with Squares:

Perimeter

__________ rule: _________

__________ rule: _________

__________ rule: _________

__________ rule: _________

Description
of the
graph

Description
of the
graph

Description
of the
graph

Description
of the
graph

Patterns with Squares:

Area

Picks Theorem
(0 Pegs Inside)

Paper Folding

Tower Puzzle

__________ rule: _________

__________ rule: _________

__________ rule: _________

__________ rule: _________

Description
of the
graph

Description
of the
graph

Description
of the
graph

Description
of the
graph

Fig. 7 Summary Sheet

V O L . 6 , N O . 5 . JANUARY 2001

317

tial function, and the Peg Game is an example of a

quadratic function.
Students investigation of each problem should
be followed by leading questions that ask students
to describe multiple patterns and function rules in
their own words and to translate the function rules
into algebraic notation. Teachers should guide students to see connections among concrete models,
the symbolic function rules, and other patterns observed in the data tables.
To help students bring all their new knowledge
together, they can complete the summary data
form shown in figure 7. The summary data form
includes eight sections, one for each of the problems presented in this article. In the appropriate
section, students consolidate
each problems data table, rule,
and graph. Then students can cut
out the eight sections, sort them
into three piles according to their
similarities, and write about the
similarities in each set and the differences among the sets. The observations about similarities and
differences should be based on an
examination of graphs, rules, and
patterns.

Investigations
should be
followed by
leading
questions

Summary
MIDDLE-GRADES STUDENTS CAN LEARN ABOUT

functions by exploring multiple concrete examples

that ask students to talk and write about ideas informally. Symbolic notation is more meaningful when
it is connected with physical representations and informal language. By exploring multiple examples
and by making comparisons within and between
problem types, students can develop a deep understanding of function.
The examples presented here are not new. In the
1960s, Robert Davis developed activities for elementary school children to explore function with his
Madison Project materials (1966). The Tower Puzzle, Developing Picks Theorem, and the Peg Game
were adapted from those materials. The string activity was adapted from a wonderful resource, Teaching Mathematics: A Sourcebook of Aids, Activities
and Strategies, by Max Sobel and Evan Maletsky
(1975). The equilateral triangle and area and
perimeter problems were adapted from Moving On
with Pattern Blocks (Roper 1988). The paper-folding
example was adapted from one of the NCTMs Addenda series booklets (Phillips 1991). Good problems such as these are available for teachers to use
and, surprisingly, have been around for the last
thirty years.

References
Davis, Robert, developer. Madison Project Independent Exploration Materials. Danbury,
Conn.: Math Media, 1966.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM). Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. Reston, Va.:
NCTM, 1989.
Phillips, Elizabeth. Patterns and Functions. Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School
Mathematics Addenda Series, Grades 58.
Reston, Va.: National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, 1991.
Roper, Ann. Moving On with Pattern Blocks: Intermediate Problem-Solving Activities. Sunnyvale,
Calif.: Creative Publications, 1988.
Sobel, Max A., and Evan M. Maletsky. Teaching
Mathematics: A Sourcebook of Aids, Activities,
and Strategies. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975.

The work reported in this article was supported in

part by the National Science Foundation under
grant number ESI-9254455. All opinions
expressed are solely those of the author. C
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