Solving equations

When planning to teach a class how to solve equations I would normally follow the steps outlined in my previous blogs which are

1. Solving equations, a staring activity

2. Solving equations with a frog.

The class should now have all the skills and knowledge to be able to solve equations. I reintroduce the frog story but this time I show them we cn write it as 3x +1 = 16. It is important to now make it clear what your objective is, to find x. Link it back to your diagram by asking 'what did you do first when trying to find how far Fred jumps?' Hopefully they will repond subtract 1, which you now show them.



Once again link back to the Fred the frog story, reminding them about the three jumps covering 15 metres and ask 'so how long was one jump?' To which they should answer 5. 'How do you know?' This leads on to division by 3. You then show them usual notation used with the arrows by the side.

I am confident that hould you follow the three stages I have outlined in thee blogs your success rate in teaching solving equtions will soar. Don't forget to use a different colour for the arrows and operations as this help pupils to distinguish what is happening to the equations form the equation itself.