New approach to learning Algebra

Algebra lesson with Robin
One of the ideas was to rather scaffold down and not up. Most Teachers who scaffold start at the bottom and work upwards.For the last  twenty years teachers start teaching Algebra starting with teaching simplify first and finished with patterns. A different approach could be to start with patterns first to introduced algebra.
Another idea was for students to stand in groups  and write on a whiteboard,windows, tables,etc to create conversations about Algebra.
We watch a video about pattern solving. Teachers in the class tried to solve the problem as well as well. Most people use a table system instead of a visual map to solve the pattern. The video show different groups who have different approaches to the problem and generate a different formula.
An interesting fact that was highlighted was that most student believe[wrongly] that X got a set value. The longer they do Maths  the more they tend to believe this.

A valuable activity that Robin share with us was Racetrack.The main idea is that they must  figure it out by themselves.They form their own rules and play.This way they learn substitution automatically.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MyiMaths

Image
MyiMaths  evaluation We have started with MyiMaths in class.All students got  a personal log in and every two weeks they got a set activities to do. The program mark and give feedback in a mark book. Teachers can  write comments as well.  Students take a screenshot of the results and file it in their folder as evidence. This program replace Ninja Maths challenge that is paid program. It is a bit different but excellent. Video instruction is unfortunately missing...one of the strengths of Maths Buddy. I set easier work levels and got much better engagement than Ninja Maths challenge we the challenges were to difficult for some students. Most students enjoy it and learn a  lot. The activities is graphic, interactive and progressive. We spend one period every two weeks in class  on this activity and the rest is homework. This supplement but don't replace other activities.Ninja Maths challenge and MyiMaths will improve a student level from 25-40 % if d...
Read more

Make the student talk

Image
                                                               Make the students talk-- The person who is doing the talking is doing the learning.The strategy is to make them see before you show . Let them tell you Use hooks and opening statements, games, questions to start the conversation. Use proms like what's next, anything more, it that the only answer, silence, what else?, what else?   to keep the conversation going. Us talk moves and question stems to generate conversation. The more the students engage and talk about the topic, the more they think and learn Reveal and show One way is to show them a graph--with no numbers and data on--then they have to guest what it is , then give them numbers and they have to guess the other numbers, then give them the x axis and they have to guess the y axis,. then the title..Th...
Read more

Building towards a thinking classroom

Building towards a thinking classroom  It is to create hooks to to improve learners curiosity and engagement. We did stand in lines according to our birthdays--then see if there is a trend. We also use lines for getting up and  bedtimes lines and see if there is correlation. This stimulate talking, discussions and hopefully thinking. Which one doesn't  Fit fot activities is brilliant for discussions and thinking. There is more than one answer but you have to explain WHY We used a interactive collaborated spreadsheet with questions . Each learner must enter Data. The spreadsheet create a graph automatically and this leads to discussion and thinking- This is a great way to introduce statistics and get students to participate and engage
Read more