Prior to starting lessons 2-1 to 2-5, students took a brief but somewhat comprehensive pre-assessment to determine what sort of investment we should ultimately make in the material.
The results pointed to two conclusions:
1. The first five lessons of chapter 2 are somewhat familiar
2. familiarity does not mean mastery! All of us have an interest in carefully exploring the lessons in order to make sense of content that is slightly out of reach
Today marked our first day of actually wading into chapter 2 and thinking carefully about:
the continued challenges and advantages of translating verbal statements into algebraic equations
what makes formulas unique and how they are not 'ordinary' equations
how solving equations of any kind involves common elements referred to in today's blog title
Furthermore, we were able to take a good, long look at George Polya's problem-solving process which is a god-send to anyone who has ever looked at a math problem and thought: "I don't even know where to begin?!?" His plan is summarized as:
1. Explore the problem
2. Plan the solution
3. Solve the problem
4. Check the solution
We dissected an actual problem to see whether we could find any value to Polya's method and students seemed to agree that it is effective.
Home Nugget #16 due 10/2
Assigned on Thursday October 1, 2009
Due on Friday October 2, 2009
In Algebra I book
Page 74 # 16 - 18, 20, 21, 24 - 26
Page 75 # 33 - 36, 39 - 43
page 82 # 25 - 29, 37 - 40
FCAs
2 points: all problems completed
2 points: evidence provided for all solutions
ALSO
Your Guide-To Chapter 1 is due tomorrow! Remember that it counts as a 50% quiz grade.
