Thinking Blocks – A Problem Solving Strategy

by: Algebra Funsheets - November 16th, 2011   Add Comment

Thinking Blocks gives you a quick, easy way of teaching students how to model problems with this interactive modeling board.

Set up for ratios, fractions and general solving equations word problems, it has a bank of pre-set word problems, or you can input your own.

Here’s an example of how modeling helps students visualize a problem:

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Jonny Heeley and Solving Equations

by: Algebra Funsheets - November 1st, 2011   Add Comment

solvingEqns
The energy of Heeley’s lessons is something to be admired, as his lessons seem more like a show than an actual lesson. But I don’t think I could realistically keep up with that much enthusiasm all day long, five days a week.

Plus, I think the pace is way too fast, which is fine for him since most of his students seem to have a good foundation before these lessons are taped. (They can all factor even though this is just a solving equations lesson. This must be how the curriculum is in England.) Still, there’s always good ideas in his videos. Here’s his Solving Equations lesson:

Solving Equations

I really liked the T-shirts with the numbers and operators, what a fun way to review the difference between an equation and an expression, or identifying terms, which a lot of lower level students can’t seem to grasp.

In regards to actually solving equations, I’m not too certain what the benefit of this was to his lesson – aside from the fact the students could physically participate. Notice at first students just solved the equations mentally. Later, he just led the students to say “whatever you do on the left side, you do on the right,” but he only verbally goes through what they’re doing to solve the problem.

I’m wondering how to modify this activity to physically show the whole solving process. I don’t plan on running out and buying a bunch of t-shirts, but this would be easy to mimic by writing the numbers and operators out on a piece of paper, and then having the students hold them or tape them to the front of their shirts.

Maybe, for the equation 2x + 3 = 11, I would need several students to be the same operator and number, so that there would be students who are “-” and “3″ on both sides…

This would be something that would have to be well planned out beforehand, but I think this would be a great activity for below-level students.