Reply To: Lesson 5-6: Question

[Victoria Murphy]

I thought that identifying terms in an algebraic expression would go smoothly after students had had lessons on that in the previous grade. I then thought that combining like terms after it would be even smoother. BUT, I found that students needed more practice with the kinds of terms and what they even mean (what does a constant mean? or why does the coefficient and the variable change value?). They also needed more work with properties, like the associative and commutative property. They were comfortable with 3 + 5 = 5 + 3, but not x + 5 = 5 + x and especially not comfortable with moving things around when there were terms being aded in parenthesis. This year, I am thinking I will need to take some time to delve into these properties a little more. I have been bringing them up as we add and subtract integers and rationals, and look at student strategies, but I think this year it will be worth giving those strategies a reason (the property) for why they work.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Victoria Murphy.