From: Claire (for Teacher2Teacher Service)
Date: Jun 05, 2008 at 16:12:31
Subject: Re: Developing understanding in high school math

I applaud you for being so concerned with your friend's understanding of
math. Memorized procedures don't do much good in real life without it.

I'd suggest trying to find some real problem or situation that models the
concepts you are trying to teach. People need something to connect the
symbols of algebra to, if they are to create any meaning from it. There are
lots of sources of good problems on the web. Check out these:
http://mathforum.org/pow/other.html
http://www.stfx.ca/special/mathproblems/
http://www.pasd.wednet.edu/school/mathwasl/

Of course, my own favorite source of problems is our own Problems of the Week:
http://mathforum.org/pow/
You can get a free 21-day trial account if you'd like to give it a test drive.

Regarding the example you gave, pq^2+p = p*(q^2+1), have you tried
substituting actual numerical values for the variables as a way to
demonstrate the validity of that property? Use a couple of small whole
numbers for p and q.

 -Claire, for the T2T service

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