giants football Football, Absolute Value and A Life Size Number Line Too: A Middle School Math Hands-On Lesson

The New York Giants football team started at the 30-yard line and returned to the 19-yard line.Represent their change or position?So I set up my Do Now question for my students today and also the way I open the class discussion on the day I read aim, "What is the absolute value?So I like the Do Now question, let my students calculate the problem.Most people came up with the answer.11.Now, I took out a ruler and asked if you could find any negatives on my ruler.
A brave hand stepped forward and replied, "No!That's right, so how do most people come up-11.They calculated it and said 30-Obviously they lost 11 spaces, so it has to be negative, right?Well, that's not the case. let's see why!!What is the absolute value?It's very simple.
The distance of a number from zero.
If you think of a line of numbers with positive and negative numbers on it, then let's take a look at 5 and-5.How many steps would you take if you were standing on an actual digital line, from zero to five?If you answer five, you're right!Now stand on the digital line, start from scratch again, walk-5.How many steps have you taken now-From your original zero position 5?You are still right if you answer five more!Distance is by no means negative!!!So from now on, we know why 11 is not negative because of this!So the absolute value must not be negative.
So the absolute value is 5 = 5.
And absolutely great value ~5 = +5.
Absolute value and distance are never negative, always positive!!In my classroom, when I taught this, I posted an actual number line on the floor, in order to prove the exact problem I just arranged for you to introduce this topic. In addition, the problem to be discussed here.Children can play a digital role and walk on the actual digital line.
This is a way for my students to see problems visually, and a good way to get some much needed classroom participation (which is something many students don't want to do in math class ).Hey, I asked them to leave their seats and walk around in the math classroom and most of the kids are willing to take part in the event.So how do we start to solve the absolute value problem?start at -Not zero.
Stay away-move 5 points.
.5 steps from-?Students may need to think for a while and I instruct them to come back-.-8.But how do we get negative numbers?Mrs.You said absolute value was never negative?Yes, because the distance of 5 is positive in any direction, although when we go to the negative 5 spaces, we obviously get-8.positive!How to write the absolute value?.
So when we are seeking the absolute value of the original problem with a distance of 5, we can write: | 5 | = 5 or |-5 | = 5.See if we find the absolute value of 5 or-5, still the answer to 5!Now let's throw some good old algebra in.We need to solve x or our favorite letter!!Yes, students can usually follow me so far, but usually most people hate to see terrible "x" or algebra added to it.
So how do we get the absolute value of x?Let's have a look, shall we?|x| = 6.So how do we solve x?Remember the number, okay?That is to say, let's find all the distance between zero and 6 spaces!So the other student will come up and tell us that there may be 6 places away from zero or-6 too.So | x | = 6 is x = {6 ,-6}..How will we solve this problem?Let's use our number line again!!added onto it.
So, how do we find where to start on our number line?, We need to subtract it from the original zero (which allows us to use a little prior knowledge that the reverse side of the addition is indeed subtraction ).end up on -.So what does 3 mean?The answer to the absolute value question (see three is after the equal number, not in the actual absolute value column!!So on our number line, I have a student starting with the numberx = {1 and -.1.2.Then build two equations to solve (remember, we always have two answers on our digital line!a.
b.
x + 2 = -3.
a.
x = 3 -b.
x + 2 = -x = -3 -2 or -3 + -2 (leaving, changing, on the contrary, this is a priori knowledge of the number of plus/minus), x =-5.You have it x = {1 and-5}.Same as before us!!Summarize this lesson...I like this lesson because it's the other handAbout the lesson of using football (most children have some background knowledge about football) as the main motivation of this topic, this topic will definitely be a little boring for children, even a little difficult, besides, in this activity, it allows students to walk around the classroom to see what the actual absolute value is.This topic is really tedious and tedious for children.
But let the students walk on the physical number line and let them see for themselves that the absolute value will never be a negative number.If they don't learn anything else from this lesson, I want them to grab that visually at least.However, I also like the fact that as I said before, the event really got the whole class involved because most of the students didn't want to miss the chance to actually leave their seats and move around in class.
Let's face it on a great day, and I think I was asked if they could go to the restroom, nurse or some other activity that would make them not have to sit still.So this activity allows and requires these children to actually walk around during class and not to sit.In addition, the participation of young children in math classes can be a low requirement, and I like how this activity strengthens and promotes classroom participation throughout the class.
So I hope to teach this lesson on a more complex math topic, that is, my students will leave my class in the next few years, remember that the hands of the absolute value and digital lines are behind them for a long time.As a teacher, this is something you really want students to take away from your lessons and don't forget it once the exam is over!Anyone who has read my other math teaching articles before will know from them that I firmly believe that it is a requirement to use something that is of interest to middle school students to help them learn many basic concepts.I really enjoyed getting my students involved, showing them how we can use math in our daily lives, and believing that this lesson is another one to do so.
Janine is a freelance writer and mother of two children.She is known for being a certified and licensed professional math teacher through New York State and teaches at both middle and high school levels.You can look at her profile more realistically.
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