Math Missions

Hiking Math: Slope and Rate of Change

Looking for a real world application of slope and rate of change? This activity has students play the role of a mountaineer, and use their math skills to map out elevation change, sort travelers based on hiking speed, and analyze a hike. Best of all, it's available in both print and digital, so you can flexibly use it in your classroom.

Spring-End of YearCelebrate the season with a themed activity
Slope & Rate of ChangeTopics like slope formula
Google Forms, TPT EaselEasy to use in your classroom
8th GradeAligned to Common Core State Standards

Why you'll love this

What’s Included

Your purchase includes three formats of the same activity:

Google Form. Assign online. Auto-grades for you!
Print PDF. Print and manually grade.
EASEL. Assign online and manually grade

They all contain the same scenarios and questions:

Scenario 1: Map out Elevations (calculate rate of change). Students will be asked to find solve for rate of elevation change when you hike from 120ft to 450ft in duration of 3 miles.
Scenario 2: Sort Travelers into Different Groups (calculate and compare rate of change). Students will be asked to calculate average speed of hike and then sort travelers based on their speed.
Scenario 3: Analyze Gabriel’s Hike (match graphs to scenarios). Students will be given a slope graph and asked to calculate slope from a graph to match segments of the graph to a hiking scenario.