Sunday, September 27, 2009

Expressions vs. Equations?

Have you ever had difficulty helping students to understand the difference between expressions and equations? Between evaluating and solving?

I tried something new this past week with my 7th graders: I wrote various algebraic expressions on index cards then asked the students to evaluate them. "How?" They asked. They didn't know what the variables equaled: EXACTLY!

I then gave them a dice and said that they needed to record what they rolled so that I would know what each variable was equal to. This highlighted the fact that variables can be anything.

What have you done to help students understand variables and the difference between expressions and equations?

--Lauren

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Welcome to "Math Makes Sense"!

This site is under construction, but check back for great lesson plans, activities, and links that support Math in middle and high school. Feel free to send in your own suggestions.

Lauren McCluskey