Mathematical goals

This lesson unit is intended to help you assess how well students are able to create and solve linear equations. In particular, the lesson will help you identify and help students who have the following difficulties:

• Solving equations with one variable.
• Solving linear equations in more than one way.

Introduction

The unit is structured in the following way:

• Before the lesson, students work individually on an assessment task that is designed to reveal their current levels of understanding and difficulties. You then review their work and create questions for students to consider when improving their solutions.
• During the lesson students work in pairs on collaborative activities. They evaluate sample student work and create linear equations for each other to solve.
• During a final whole-class discussion students review the main mathematical concepts of the lesson.
• In a follow-up lesson, students review their initial solutions, and then use what they have learned to either revise the same introductory assessment task or complete a different task.

Materials required

• Each student will need a copy of the assessment tasks, Building and Solving Equations, Building and Solving Equations (revisited), Sample Student Work to Discuss, the cut-up sheet Building Equations, the cut-up sheet Solving Equations, a sheet of paper, a mini-whiteboard, a pen, and an eraser. Some students may need extra copies of the sheets Building Equations and Solving Equations.
• There are projector resources to support whole-class discussions.

Time needed

15 minutes before the lesson, an 80-minute lesson (or two shorter lessons) and 15 minutes in a follow-up lesson. These timings are approximate; exact timings will depend on the needs of your students.