Maths - Lots more fun with algebra
What is it?
Algebra is a subject about which teachers and pupils often have preconceptions. This is a collection of interesting ways of teaching it, compiled by maths teacher Craig Barton, which will hopefully make it more fun.
How to use it
Turn algebra into a treasure hunt with this set of questions, uploaded by eam_larkin. Pupils work out the answers to the questions set on a worksheet, then have to find the corresponding symbol to each answer around the classroom or school. Once they have found all the symbols, they “decode” them to find a secret message.
Another brain-teasing game is Algebra Countdown, based on the numbers game in the popular TV programme. Pupils must work out how they combine the algebraic terms this resource generates to come to a given answer.
Nyima_drayang covers two tricky topics in one with an S1-3 resource which links the equivalence of algebraic expressions to the area of compound shapes (equivalent expressions - compound shapes). This set of worksheets and interactive whiteboard activities offers plenty of opportunity for differentiation, with suggestions of easier or more difficult tasks.
Fans of the card game Top Trumps, meanwhile, will enjoy using the resource supplied by kez84, which requires pupils to work out and compare values attached to animals or dinosaurs in these sets of cards.
To consolidate what pupils have learnt, a handy interactive whiteboard activity has been uploaded by Matt Dunbar - essentially an Excel macro program that will come up with an infinite number of equations for pupils to solve.
Where to find it
All of these resources can be found at www.tes.co.uk/secondary-algebra.
