From Patterns to Algebra

Back in April I was lucky enough to attend a professional development session on algebra skills through the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. The workshop surrounded Dr. Ruth Beatty's book From Patterns to Algebra (a sampler can be found here) which seeks to use patterning development and different algebra tools to help bridge the math gaps between grades 8 and 9. Her emphasis is on approaching the development of an algebra skill set through specific pattern problem solving and manipulative use.

The book itself gives great examples of activities, lessons and creative tools that can be used to serve this purpose. A lot of what she emphasized was the way we get students to start thinking about algebra in terms of its organic structure. Why do we set up our algebra questions in this way, what makes this method work and will it always work? Beatty's book sets up activities and lessons that will get students thinking about algebra in a new light and one that will hopefully foster a better understanding of underlining meanings of algebra and less of the rote learning associate with it.

The nice thing about the activities in this book were how simple they were to tailor to the classroom. Many of the activities, in a similar vein to Van de Walle, were relatively short and could be developed and edited easily to fit the needs of your students. They also provided a lot of nice guiding prompts to help students get into a good discussion and to make sure that you were asking the right questions, at certain points, to really have students think about what it is they are doing when we ask them to engage with algebra. Beatty as well is a strong supporter of the use of proper manipulatives and gave great instructions on how to work with algebra tiles in a different way to help frame how an actual equation would look in physical terms.

The information in From Patterns to Algebra is definitely useful in developing a more intuitive and reflective algebra classroom and is worth getting you hands on!