[Math] Teaching the concept of a function.

Question

I am doing a class for at risk high school math students on the concept of a function. I have seen all the Internet lesson plans and different differentiated instruction plans. The idea of a function as a machine has always sat well with me, so I was thinking of playing off that. Are there any "out of the box" ideas that perhaps someone used or saw or knows that might hit home?

Answer 1

Some everyday concepts could help. Such as

In a restaurant menu (f=food item, p=price of item):

Is f a function of p? Is p a function of f?

On back of a mailed envelop (s=street address, z=5-digit zip code):

Is s a function of z? Is z a function of s?

In a teacher's grade book (n=name of student who took a test, g= grade of student)

Is n a function of g? Is g a function of n?