The Algebra Teacher's Activity-a-Day, Grades 6-12 E-Book

Frances McBroom Thompson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: 5-Minute FUNdamentals
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 118

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Fun-filled math problems that put the emphasis on problem-solving strategies and reasoning The Algebra Teacher's Activity-a-Day offers activities for test prep, warm-ups, down time, homework, or just for fun. These unique activities are correlated with national math education standards and emphasize problem-solving strategies and logical reasoning skills. In many of the activities, students are encouraged to communicate their different approaches to other students in the class. * Filled with dozens of quick and fun algebra activities that can be used inside and outside the classroom * Designed to help students practice problem-solving and algebra skills The activities address a wide range of topics, skills, and ability levels, so teachers can choose whichever best suit the students' needs.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

JOSSEY-BASS TEACHER

Title Page

Copyright Page

ABOUT THIS BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Acknowledgments

SECTION ONE - What Doesn’t Belong?

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

1.9

1.10

1.11

1.12

1.13

1.14

1.15

1.16

1.17

1.18

1.19

1.20

SECTION TWO - What’s Missing?

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

2.10

2.11

2.12

2.13

2.14

2.15

2.16

2.17

2.18

2.19

2.20

SECTION THREE - Where Is It?

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

3.9

3.10

3.11

3.12

3.13

3.14

3.15

SECTION FOUR - Algebraic Pathways

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

4.10

4.11

4.12

4.13

4.14

4.15

4.16

4.17

4.18

4.19

4.20

SECTION FIVE - Squiggles

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

5.8

5.9

5.10

5.11

5.12

5.13

5.14

5.15

5.16

5.17

5.18

5.19

5.20

SECTION SIX - Math Mystery Messages

6.1

6.2

6.3

6.4

6.5

6.6

6.7

6.8

6.9

6.10

6.11

6.12

6.13

6.14

6.15

6.16

6.17

6.18

6.19

6.20

SECTION SEVEN - What Am I?

7.1

7.2

7.3

7.4

7.5

7.6

7.7

7.8

7.9

7.10

7.11

7.12

7.13

7.14

7.15

SECTION EIGHT - Al-ge-grams

8.1

8.2

8.3

8.4

8.5

8.6

8.7

8.8

8.9

8.10

8.11

8.12

8.13

8.14

8.15

8.16

8.17

8.18

8.19

8.20

SECTION NINE - Potpourri

9.1

9.2

9.3

9.4

9.5

9.6

9.7

9.8

9.9

9.10

9.11

9.12

9.13

9.14

9.15

SECTION TEN - Calculator Explorations

10.1

10.2

10.3

10.4

10.5

10.6

10.7

10.8

10.9

10.10

10.11

10.12

10.13

10.14

10.15

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

ANSWER KEY

JOSSEY-BASS TEACHER

Jossey-Bass Teacher provides educators with practical knowledge and tools to create a positive and lifelong impact on student learning. We offer classroom-tested and research-based teaching resources for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. Whether you are an aspiring, new, or veteran teacher, we want to help you make every teaching day your best.

From ready-to-use classroom activities to the latest teaching framework, our value-packed books provide insightful, practical, and comprehensive materials on the topics that matter most to K-12 teachers. We hope to become your trusted source for the best ideas from the most experienced and respected experts in the field.

Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass

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ISBN 978-0-4705-0517-5

PB Printing

ABOUT THIS BOOK

The Algebra Teacher’s Activity-a-Day contains activities based on the content of Algebra I and II at the secondary level. Each activity may be used to supplement a daily algebra lesson by providing review of previous lessons or a focus for new lessons. Each activity emphasizes problem-solving strategies and logical reasoning, and often may have more than one solution; teachers should encourage students to communicate their different approaches or solutions both orally and in written form. The time required for most of the activities will be about five to ten minutes, depending on the type of activity selected and the amount of discussion encouraged. All activity pages are reproducible and may be copied for individual student use or projected on a screen for whole-class discussion.

The book is organized into ten sections containing fifteen to twenty activities per section, with a total of 180 activities. The sections are independent of each other and may be used in any order. Each section covers a wide range of topics. The activities within each section are ordered sequentially by algebraic content and by level of difficulty. The first page of each section gives general instructions as well as a sample activity with a possible solution. A grid that correlates each activity with the process and content standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (http://standards.nctm.org/document) appears before Section One. An answer key for all activities is provided at the end of the book.

Section One, “What Doesn’t Belong?” offers experience with similarities and differences. Each activity presents four expressions or equations in a 2 × 2 grid. One expression or equation differs from the other three in some way. Each difference identified becomes a “solution” to the activity. Notation differences may be the focus of the activity, or procedural differences may be. Each activity has two or more possible solutions for students to discover.

Section Two, “What’s Missing?” requires students to detect a change that has occurred between two expressions connected by an arrow. The arrow points to the result of the change. Another expression connected to a missing expression must also undergo the same change. Students must identify the missing expression to find the “solution.” In some activities, the arrow may identify some element in the notation rather than a procedural change. A pair of arrows in an activity may represent a variety of relationships, thereby creating multiple solutions.

Section Three, “Where Is It?” provides activities in which students must locate a specific box in a grid of nine boxes. The item in the selected box must satisfy all of the clues given in the activity. The item might be an algebraic expression or equation, or a curve or set of curves. The process of elimination must be applied and the clues assist students in clarifying various mathematical definitions.

Section Four, “Algebraic Pathways,” includes activities in which algebraic expressions must be simplified or equations or inequalities must be solved. To find an answer, students must draw a path through several boxes in a grid, beginning at the top of the grid. Each box contains a possible step that may or may not belong in the chosen simplification or solution process. The purpose is to draw a path that leads directly to an answer to be recorded below the grid, and the path must avoid unnecessary reversal of any steps. These activities encourage students to be more efficient in mathematical procedures. Several approaches are possible for solving the same problem, thereby producing several different pathways and increasing students’ flexibility of thought. Each pathway found is considered a “solution” to the activity.

Section Five, “Squiggles,” contains activities that consist of networks of connected points. Students must assign terms (algebraic expressions or equations) from a set to points in a network, or squiggle, so that any two connected terms satisfy a given rule or relationship. Each term must be uniquely assigned to a point; a successfully completed assignment of terms forms a “solution” for a squiggle. Different solutions are possible by varying the terms assigned to the points. This type of activity provides practice in analysis and logical reasoning, as well as review of definitions, factoring, and characteristics of graphs.

Section Six, “Math Mystery Messages,” involves math definitions and properties. Students need much review of these theoretical topics. Although the activities appear to involve simple decoding, only a few number-letter pairs are provided as clues in each activity. To discover each message, students must apply logical reasoning, trial-and-error strategies, and understanding of the structure of the English language. Students for whom English is a second language, as well as students weak in math vocabulary, will find these activities difficult, but they will profit from the challenge.

Section Seven, “What Am I?” offers activities that contain sets of clues. Students must apply all of the clues in an activity to identify the expression that is the “solution.” Deductive reasoning and review of math vocabulary are emphasized in this section.

Section Eight, “Al-ge-grams,” requires students to apply accurately the order of operations and other mathematical procedures in order to simplify algebraic expressions. Once an activity’s expression is simplified, the remaining letters, and perhaps numbers, must be unscrambled to form a special message. The message will be general, not necessarily mathematical.

Section Nine, “Potpourri,” contains three types of activities: cooperative games, which allow students to work with a partner to solve nonroutine problems through hands-on activities; oral team problems, which involve teams of two to four students who must solve a problem only through oral discussion and mental mathematics — no calculators or paper and pencil allowed; and mini-investigations, which may be worked on by individuals or in small groups of students. Emphasis is on the use of counterexamples, number patterns, and problem-solving strategies such as making tables or creating easier problems.

Section Ten, “Calculator Explorations,” provides two types of activities: applications, which require students, either independently or with a partner, to use regular calculators to generate data in which to identify patterns or from which to draw conclusions; and graphical explorations, which have partners use graphing calculators to investigate changes in functions and in their graphs. Predictor equations may also be found to match a given set of data.