What would your dream house look like? A cottage? A medieval castle? High schoolers enrolled in Algebra design the perfect house while using slopes to write equations for various aspects of the project.

Collaboration is the key for this equation-solving lesson. Learners solve a multi-step linear equation that requires using the distributive property. Within collaborative groups, scholars discuss multiple methods and troubleshoot mistakes.

What's so special about slope? Pupils first match cards with slope and y-intercept to graphs of linear equations. They continue the lesson by matching equations in slope-intercept form to the same graphs.

Within collaborative groups, scholars factor a degree six polynomial. They can factor the polynomial using many different strategies — a great way to prompt mathematical discussion.