West Contra Costa Unified School District
Solving Equations Using Balance Scale, Decomposition, and Graphing
There's more than one way to solve an equation — three, actually. Scholars learn how to solve simple linear equations in one variable using three different methods, which include using balance scales, using decomposition (e.g., turning...
Waterloo Mathematics
Grade 7 Patterning and Algebra: Algebraic Expressions
Classmates solve 18 different problems that are mostly word problems that apply algebraic expressions. They draw different combinations of masses on a scale that would balance. They also simplify expressions and solve for x in a number...
Education Development Center
Logic of Algebra
Don't just go through the steps to solve an algebraic equation, show learners how to balance an equation with visual models. The packet introduces the idea of mobile balances to reinforce the idea that both sides must match to make the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Solving Equations
If you have two bags with an unknown number of tiles, represented by x, and you add three tiles to get seven total, you can set up a linear equation to represent the problem. Use this example and a few others to demonstrate how to solve...
Virginia Department of Education
Solving Equations
Demonstrate the abstract process of solving equations by using algebra tiles as a concrete representation. Scholars begin by solving equations through the use of manipulatives. As they gain more confidence, they progress to whiteboards...
Curated OER
Algebraic Relationships
Here are 17 various forms of problems that range from matching equivalent expressions to word problems. Included are problems for substutiing values into expressions and using the order of operations, simplifying algebraic expressions,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Paying the Rent
Learning how a bank account works is a useful tool. The exercise in the resource is to deduct rent from a checking account and create an equation from a description. Participants then graph the balance of the bank account versus months...
National Security Agency
A Balancing Act: Solving Multi-Step Equations
Wow! Put on that thinking cap and solve multi-step equations. To solve equations, learners review the use of the distributive property and combining like terms. This three-day lesson comes with about 20 pages of worksheets, warm-ups,...
Curated OER
Equations Worksheet
In this math worksheet, learners create and solve equations with the help of Algebra Tiles. Then they apply formulas for geometry to find the perimeter of a polygon.
Willow Tree
Problem Solving
School subjects connect when your young scholars use math to edit English. Math allows you to convert an entire paragraph into a simple equation or inequality. Examples encourage learners to write expressions, equations, and inequalities...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bookstore Account
We use debt often to describe negative numbers and your learners will be able to see how it translates into math. They will be asked to go through a series of transactions and make simple equations for each one, following it with a...
Concord Consortium
Function Project
What if a coordinate plane becomes a slope-intercept plane? What does the graph of a linear function look like? Learners explore these questions by graphing the y-intercept of a linear equation as a function of its slope. The result is a...
Curated OER
Selling Fuel Oil at a Loss
Learners are asked to advise a fuel oil dealer on a possible investment. They must use two different rates to set up an equation and solve to determine how much oil he should sell now to break even after selling the remainder the next...
Balanced Assessment
Pick a Pattern or Two
Math is all about finding patterns. In this ask, scholars first investigate a sequence formed by squaring the sum of the digits in the previous term. They go on to investigate a second sequence and write an algebraic expression for this...