Education Development Center
Logic of Algebra
Don't just go through the steps to solve an algebraic equation, show learners how to balance an equation with visual models. The packet introduces the idea of mobile balances to reinforce the idea that both sides must match to make the...
National Security Agency
Equations and Expressions
Learners demonstrate their knowledge pictorially, concretely, and abstractly in this unit meant to last three hours over three days. Using hands-on activities, manipulatives, real-world applications, and problem solving, learners write...
Virginia Department of Education
Solving Equations
Demonstrate the abstract process of solving equations by using algebra tiles as a concrete representation. Scholars begin by solving equations through the use of manipulatives. As they gain more confidence, they progress to whiteboards...
Education Development Center
Language of Algebra
Don't rush into algebra, let learners visualize, guess, and predict their way to a successful math career. The introductory unit incorporates beginner algebraic concepts with shapes instead of variables. Young mathematicians use a...
Concord Consortium
An Algebraic Oversight
Tackle a common misconception using a performance task. Dividing by a variable to eliminate a variable may seem like a good idea, but simplifying the variable eliminates solutions as well. Learners develop algebraic and graphical support...
Concord Consortium
In a Triangle
What's in a triangle? Just 180 degrees worth of angles! Young learners use given angle relationships in a triangle to write an algebraic representation. Using a system of equations, they simplify the equation to a linear representation.
Concord Consortium
Three Circles
Round and round and round we go. Given a diagram of three circles, two of which share a point with the third circle, learners identify the radius of each circle. Doing so requires setting up and solving a system of equations based on the...
Willow Tree
Problem Solving
School subjects connect when your young scholars use math to edit English. Math allows you to convert an entire paragraph into a simple equation or inequality. Examples encourage learners to write expressions, equations, and inequalities...
EngageNY
Deriving the Quadratic Formula
Where did that formula come from? Lead pupils on a journey through completing the square to discover the creation of the quadratic formula. Individuals use the quadratic formula to solve quadratic equations and compare the method to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bookstore Account
We use debt often to describe negative numbers and your learners will be able to see how it translates into math. They will be asked to go through a series of transactions and make simple equations for each one, following it with a...
Concord Consortium
Function Project
What if a coordinate plane becomes a slope-intercept plane? What does the graph of a linear function look like? Learners explore these questions by graphing the y-intercept of a linear equation as a function of its slope. The result is a...
Concord Consortium
Painted Stage
Find the area as it slides. Pupils derive an equation to find the painted area of a section of a trapezoidal-shaped stage The section depends upon the sliding distance the edge of the painted section is from a vertex of the trapezoid....
Balanced Assessment
Transformation I
Rewriting expressions in different forms is an essential algebra skill. Support the development of this skill by using a task that asks scholars to begin with a linear, quadratic, and rational expression and then manipulate them into a...
Concord Consortium
Gravity
Weight is a function of the distance from sea level. Learners explore the many implications of this fact in an inquiry-based task. Given the function, pupils answer questions before manipulating the function to rewrite the distance from...
K12 Reader
The Product-Quotient Connection
How are multiplication and division connected? Read a passage about inverse operations to find out how you can use products and quotients to check your work when completing an equation from the opposite operation.
Curated OER
The Bank Account
Your algebra learners become bankers for a day as they explore compounding interest and the formula used to calculate the balance in a savings account. Questions guide the learners as they analyze the formula's parts and their connection...
Noyce Foundation
Boxes
Teach your class to think outside the box. Scholars use the concept of equality to solve a problem in the assessment task. They determine how to use a scale to identify the one box out of a set of nine boxes that is heavier than the others.
EngageNY
Mid-Module Assessment Task: Grade 7 Module 2
A seven-question assessment determines how well your learners understand the procedures to add, subtract, multiply, and divide signed rational numbers. Pupils show their understanding through problem-solving situations.
Concord Consortium
Rising Prices
What will that cost in the future? The scenario provides pupils with a growth as a Consumer Price Index. Learners create functions for a given item to determine future prices and graph them. Class members then compare their functions to...