Say something smart about this in the comments.
Thank you to John Weisenfeld for the submission.
Category: Solving Linear Equations
The student clearly needs more practice with solving equations. Fine. But why did the student make this mistake, in particular? After all, there are dozens of ways to mess up this problem. Why was this way tempting?
Today’s submissions comes Louise Wilson, who blogs over at Crazed Mummy.
How did this happen? How might you help?
Where did this kid go wrong? What does it reveal about his understanding of solving equations? What is your next step for him?
Where did the kid get 48 from? How would you help him, err, not get 48 in the future?
Clearly, the student’s work has more than one issue. But what issues doesn’t it have? What does the student clearly know that you could build on? What’s something that he clearly needs to work on, and how would you help?
Categories
Backtracking
What does the student understand, and what does she not? How would you help?
What is this student thinking? It’s a bit tricky, so extra points if you come up with a complete story that includes a list of things that we know that this kid knows.
What aspect of solving linear equations is this student struggling with? From the student’s point of view, why does the moves made seem like the right ones?
Are there any interesting things that you do to help students with linear equations? How do you make the right moves seem intuitive?