Curator: Robert Millett
An applet for practicing identifying like terms. The user is given a term in the middle of the arrows and four terms surrounding it, three of which are not like terms, and must correctly select the only like term.
Grade Level: grades 7 and 8
PSSM Content Standard: Algebra
CCSSM Content Standard: Grades 7 and 8 - Expressions and Equaitons
Math Content: Identifying Like Terms
Evaluation
What is being learned? What mathematics is the focus of the activity/technology? Is relational or instrumental understanding emphasized?
The user is practicing how to identify like terms. The applet corrects the user when they make a mistake so they are able to improve their skills in identifying. Also, in the timed setting, the user develops the idea that the coefficients do not matter and they train themselves to only consider the variables and exponents when identifying like terms.
How does learning take place? What are the underlying assumptions (explicit or implicit) about the nature of learning?
The user can select from a variety of levels of difficulty, some of which are timed and other are not timed. As the user increases the difficulty level the terms will have more than one variable and exponents could be 0. Also the order of the variables may be different and the user must recognize that the order does not matter by the commutative property. It is assumed that the user already understands how to identify like terms and is not using the technology to learn for the first time.
What role does technology play? What advantages or disadvantages does the technology hold for this role? What unique contribution does the technology make in facilitating learning?
The technology provides feedback to the user and practice problems for identifying like terms. The timer setting pushes the user to become faster at identifying the terms. The technology does not go deeper into how to combine the like terms which would make it more useful.
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