4 Summary

This unit has asked you to think about writing and working with algebraic expressions. The activities have introduced ideas that are used extensively in the real world to model complex situations and allow decisions to be made. Asking the students to come up with mathematical expressions for themselves for a situation of their choosing helps to get away from mundane practice in using expressions and to help them see that these things are important. It is much easier to use the mathematical language of expressions to communicate some ideas, but this is something that students are rarely exposed to.

The final activities asked the students to discuss ideas about expressions in a relaxed way so that misconceptions can be uncovered and dealt with. The focus on generalising – that is, being sure that the equivalence in expressions is always true – helped them to connect naturally to many other ideas in algebra.

Pause for thought Identify three ideas that you have used in this unit that would work when teaching other topics. Make a note of two topics you have to teach soon where those ideas can be used with some small adjustments.