Slope Treasure Hunt Activity

When I taught Algebra 1, I ran across a fun slope treasure hunt activity for practicing the concept of slope (or gradient, for my international readers). My Algebra 1 students really enjoyed this slope treasure hunt. The activity is appropriate for middle school math as well.

I originally came across this Slope Treasure Hunt (also called Treasure Hunt with Slopes) as a worksheet someone had typed up and posted online (the version I originally found no longer exists online.)

Students are given a grid that features quite a few dots. The task is to use the definition of slope to draw lines with the listed slopes. A correct solution will trace a path from the starting point to the treasure.

I especially like that this activity was designed with very intentional distractor dots. For example, the first listed slope is 3. If students go up 3 and right 1, they will find a dot. However, if they get rise/run switched around, there is also a dot at up 1 and right 3.

The activity is self-checking to an extent because if students mess up (as some of mine did), they will soon find themselves in a part of the grid with no dots. In my experience, this leads to them asking for much-needed help.

Some online searching led me to the original source of this slope treasure hunt – an enrichment workbook page from Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Algebra 1.

I found several copies of the activity online. I cannot upload it here due to copyright reasons.

• Slope Enrichment Worksheet 3-3 (Page 29) (Original PDF)
• Slope Enrichment Worksheet 7-1 (Scan)
• Alternate Version (Scan)

If I ever get the chance to teach Algebra 1 again (or even middle school math for that matter), I would probably have students create their own slope treasure hunts for other students to solve at the end of the unit.

I would also want to make one change to the worksheet. I would like to change the phrase “no slope” to “undefined.”