8 Activities for Introducing Logarithms
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Check out these hands-on and interactive activities for introducing logarithms. Some of my students’ favorite logarithm activities include log war, logarithm bingo, and log speed dating.
Logarithm Speed Dating Activity
I learned about logarithm speed dating from Amy Gruen who refers to it as “Super Speedy Quiztastic Fun.” I printed off Amy’s log flash cards. There were two levels of questions, so I printed them on two colors of card stock and laminated them.
Logarithm Bingo Activity
I learned about this logarithm bingo activity (MATHO) after a student asked if we could play log bingo after playing a game of log war. I had to do some googling to see if it existed. It did, and it was a huge hit with my students!
Log War Activity for Practicing Logarithms
To give my Algebra 2 students much-needed practice with logarithms, we played log war. I printed and laminated decks of logarithm war cards. There are many different sets of log cards available online to download. I chose a deck created by Lisa Henry.
Converting Between Exponential and Logarithmic Form Foldable
I created this converting between exponential form and logarithmic form foldable for my Algebra 2 students to glue in their interactive notebooks.
Logarithm Tarsia Puzzle Activity
I used this logarithm tarsia puzzle (also know as a square puzzle) with my Algebra 2 students. We glued our finished results in our Algebra 2 interactive notebooks.
Logarithms Foldable
Today I’m sharing a logarithms foldable I created for my students to glue in their algebra interactive notebooks. I also share a helpful log loop trick.
Swap Two – A Logarithms Task
Harry O’Malley shares a lovely logarithms task called Swap Two. Swap the position of two of the digits to make an expression with: 1) the highest value or 2) the lowest value.
Earthquakes and Explosions – a Logarithms Problem Based Assessment (PBA)
Several years ago, a summer workshop I was part of was centered around learning to write problem based assessments for math class. The group I was in was tasked with writing an Algebra 2 level PBA. My group chose to write our assessment over logarithms. Here’s the Logarithms Problem Based Assessment that my group came up with.
More Activities for Teaching Logarithms
- Precalculus Graduation Stickers
- Evaluating Logarithms Auction Activity
- Swap Two – A Logarithms Task
- Exponents Chart (Powers of 2 to 9)
- Earthquakes and Explosions – a Logarithms Problem Based Assessment (PBA)
- Amy Gruen’s Exponent Puzzles
- Solving Logarithmic Equations Foldable
- Converting Between Exponential and Logarithmic Form Foldable
- Logarithm Tarsia Puzzle Activity
- The Case of the Cooling Corpse Task
- Change of Base Formula Notes
- Properties of Logarithms Foldable
I use "speed dating" with terms for my class. I give each student a term they need to know, they create a poster for the term filled with examples and/or pictures and then they teach their classmate. Each child is then rated, 0-they couldn't teach their term, 1- they tried, but I had to correct them, 2- they explained it, but they missed some important info, 3- Mrs. P, you're job is at risk. I give them an 8 x 8 card to do their terms on so I can collect the best and put them together in a patchwork quilt. They love it after they get over the…"I would never date you" sillies.
I love this idea. I especially love your rating scale! Thanks for sharing!
This activity is also called "Quiz-Quiz-Trade" if you're familiar with Kagan Structures. I use this at least monthly for anything that can be mental math: factoring trinomials with a leading coefficient of one, exponent rules, integer practice, identifying key features of graphs, and the list goes on. The kids always get mad if I stop them before they've partnered with everyone else in the class. I like the Kagan Algebra book and it has several blackline masters of cards suitable for this kind of activity. It's only about $30 and it's one of the few supplemental aids I regularly use.
When I do speed dating, I call it "problem master" because I'm not going to mention speed dating in 8th grade! I use it for longer problems though, ones that aren't mental math and I make each student work their problem and get it checked off by me before they start partnering up. The coaching is a little more intense for these and the students keep the same card the whole time since they're the "problem master." The students have a numbered booklet where they record their work for each question and give a smiley/frowny face rating to how well they could do the problem before they needed coaching from their partner. I've done this for multi-step laws of exponent problems, factoring by grouping, graphing linear equations, probability, and more. My procedure is here: http://iisanumber.blogspot.com/2013/03/problem-master-graphing-linear-equations.html
Thanks for sharing your ideas on logs. I don't teach them any more and I can't say I'm sad about it! They were never a favorite of my students. Good luck!
I love these log activities and can't wait to try them this week!
Also, we just had a Kagan trainer come to my school on Thursday/Friday of last week. For anyone else out there, if you have never heard of Kagan Structures, check them out. They will change your life!
That's awesome! I would love, love, love to go to a Kagan training! So far, I've only bought the books. But, I think I could learn so much by seeing the structures in action!
I like that you add a little bit of structure to the activity by making it a monthly activity.I also like the self reflection aspect you added with the smiley/frowny face.
I would love to use this in my algebra 2 class.
A lovely collection of resources. I'm looking forward to trying them. Just as a heads up: H28 and H29 of the Bingo need correcting.
Thank you. The Bingo was not my creation. Thanks for pointing out the errors.
I love the idea of playing war.
I think my honors class would love this after a long weekend!
Hey sarah, i like your activities.
H28 and H29 don't make sense in the bingo
Morning! This is fantastic 🙂 I am a preservice teacher and i will definitely use this in my maths class!!! Thank you and keep up with this creative ideas.
Thank you so much! I'm very excited to play log war as a review activity this week!
Hi Sarah
Love this blog thank you
They look great!
These are great!
Thank you for these great resources. I am excited to use these resources for my class!
I have used the war cards and the foldable and both work great!!!
Thanks!!
All of these activities sound awesome!
These are so clever.
Can you please share the word solution to the Log Puzzle? "Why are ___ ____ at making ____ and keeping a ____? ___ of their ____ ____.
My students really enjoyed practicing with this puzzle. It was a great resource. 🙂
Love all of these resources for logarithms! This is actually one of my favorite units to teach and I am very excited to incorporate some of your ideas into my lessons this year! I would also love to have a copy of the log wars and speed dating with logarithms activities. Thank you!
thank you! I am working on this as geometry prep, this this was the first site I found that could explain logarithmic functions in a way i could understand
Hello! I really enjoyed that you had multiple engaging activities that work for one topic. I generally find myself coming up with only one "fun" activity for each topic. This can get a bit boring because I feel like I am just giving worksheets because I want them to have a general idea of the topic before I set them out on their own. I really wish I had read this a couple weeks ago when we were covering logarithms. But these games seem like they could be adapted to fit whatever topic you are covering. This makes them more flexible than other games I have played in class. It also means that we could play these games throughout the year and get a bit of a learning curve.