2, 4, 6, 8….Who Do We Appreciate? Patterns!

This week we discussed one of my favourite strands of math, patterning and algebra. Growing up I have always loved putting puzzles together. This love for solving puzzles was soon re-discovered when the topic of pattering and algebra was introduced to me in math class in elementary school. However my math skills have become a little rusty over time and when asked to play the matching game, it became a little daunting at first. The task was to match an equation to its corresponding t-table, graph and picture. Having the facilitator on board really helped maneuver our thoughts and also helped guide and scaffold our thinking to figure out why we chose certain cards to match one another. It really helped vocalize our thoughts and actions.

Match the following
(Khalid, N © 2016)

I would like to highlight the facilitator’s role in the activity that we had in the beginning of class. It was very interesting to see how this was incorporated in today’s lesson, because as future teachers our job it is our job to facilitate a student’s learning. This is done by asking the right questions, which I know I need a lot of practice within my placement. The article on asking effective question is a great resource and one that I will constantly re-visit to make sure I am helping ‘provoke student thinking.’

Aha Moments:

There were some more aha moments in class this week when we learned how to come up with an equation. For example the equation t= 2n + 4, is related to the t-table. Where the ‘+4’ represents how much is added onto the input (or the constant) and ‘2n’ is the difference between the terms in the output. This made figuring out the equation for the t-table simple and easy to understand.

So far four parts of algebra have been discussed the graph, equation, t-table, and picture. The final part is to solidify that knowledge further by creating real life scenarios for students. This will help them conceptualize and hopefully make connections to the different parts of algebra.

At my Placement:

Next week in placement I have to come up with a lesson plan to teach an introductory session on patterning. I am really nervous because I will have to create a lesson that is both interesting and interactive to captivate and engage the students. I plan to use the activity in Dr. Small’s “Making Math Meaningful.” The activity in the textbook describes solving an equation by maintaining a balance where an unknown number of tiles are placed in the bag and students must figure out how many tiles are in the unknown bag. Through trial and error students figure out how many tiles by putting certain number of tiles on the other end of the scale till it becomes balanced. Students then make the connection as to how many tiles were in the bag and can come up with an equation to represent the situation. I really liked this activity and I hope to fit it into my lesson plan as it uses a very interactive approach and every student can participate in the learning process

Balancing Act
(Photo captured from Dr.Small's textbook 'Making Math Meaningful')
(Khalid, N © 2016)