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FAQs
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The Game that is more....
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Q. What are the benefits to my students and my classroom? |
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Q. How long will it take to prepare to use the card
decks in my classroom? |
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Q. How many decks do I need for students who are in
cooperative learning groups in my classroom? |
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Q. . How can The Algebra Game help my students pass
the state mandated graduation requirement math test? |
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Q. How does The Algebra Game compare with the NCTM Principles
and Standards for School Mathematics? |
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Q . What are the benefits to my
students and my classroom?
- Easy transition into cooperative learning
- Many opportunities for all students to write
about their observations and describe their thinking
- Easy classroom implementation with student-ready black line
masters in the Teacher Manuals for each Topic Set
- High motivation for students for reviewing, identifying patterns
for formulas, and remembering relationships
- Several different assessment options: writing, matching, fill-in-the-blanks,
discussion results, and more.
- Constructivism-based results because the results come from
students' observations
- Clear emphasis of algebra, graph, and number pattern relationships
- An organized structure of mathematics as a system is more obvious
to students
- More students understand the connections between the graphs
and equations Students actually enjoy the experience!
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Q . How long will it take to prepare to use the card
decks in my classroom?
- You can use the decks tomorrow when you get started with just
the pair matching (like Concentration) activity or the "Walkabout"
described in the teacher's manual. (The Walkabout: each student
is given a card either as they enter class or after everyone is
in and settled. Students are give 10 minutes or less to find the
person or persons who match to their card - equations to graphs
to point pair tables, etc)
- Other students just prefer to have the decks and try to match
the cards to each other without assistance. As long as they have
the Clue Sheet in the teacher's manual they are content to figure
out matches and make conjectures. The time required is to make
a copy of the Clue Sheet for each group.
- Every activity has a sheet of discussion questions for students
to record their thinking; the only time required is the time to
make copies of the black line masters (in some schools that takes
longer than in other schools).
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Q. How many decks do I need for students who are in
cooperative learning groups in my classroom?
- The Topic Sets have one deck of each level of difficulty. If
you require that ALL students have the same cards, then
you need the same number of each kind of deck as number of groups.
- Many teachers are separating each deck into two sets since
there are 12 sets in a deck so each group has 6 sets so they need
one deck per two groups.
- Other teachers use all 4 decks in a Topic Set and let the different
groups have the different levels so that classroom reporting reflects
a variety of observations. If your school has the funds,
a Classroom Set is the best of all worlds. The Classroom Set of
each Topic has four decks of each deck level a, b, c, d and one
teacher's manual. Special order the classroom set from The Math
Studio, Inc., or order four Topic Sets.
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Q . How can The Algebra Game help my students pass the
state mandated graduation requirement math test?
- The Algebra Game activities require students to match all of
the components of the algebraic information for each topic so
that the students can make appropriate associations among the
components, a direct advantage to getting correct responses to
the multiple choice format questions.
- The discussion questions and the pattern arrangement activities
in the Algebra Game require students to both make appropriate
observations AND prove supportive arguments for their conjectures,
a direct benefit to answering short-answer and open-response questions.
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Q . How does The Algebra Game compare with the NCTM
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics?
I. Principles
- The Equity Principle: resources and support for all classrooms
and all students
- The Curriculum Principle: focus on important mathematics
- reasoning, making conjectures, and developing sound deductive
arguments
- The Teaching Principle: worthwhile tasks which are intriguing
with a level of challenge that can be approached in more than
one way; also includes the organization and orchestration of students'
work
- The Learning Principle: create autonomous learners...who
can learn more and better when they take control of their learning
.... and reflect on their own thinking
- The Assessment Principle: assembling evidence from a variety
of sources is more likely to yield an accurate picture
- The Technology Principle: the computational capacity of technological
tools extends the range of problems accessible to students ...
allowing more time for conceptualizing and modeling
II. Standards for 6 - 8 and 9 - 12
- Number and Operations: the range of number types from integers
to complex numbers is controlled within the difficulty levels
of the decks
- Algebra: students make generalizations from card pattern
arrangements and are asked to compare and contrast different representations
of the same function
- Problem Solving: students need to learn the strategies inherent
in effective problem solving methods before being presented with
context rich word problems therefore students are asked to discover
and explore components of each kind of equation.
- Reasoning and Proof: students are asked to make conjectures
about card relationships, write about their observations, and
then test their conjecture and/or observation with new information
- Communication: all lesson topics have student sheets with
writing spaces so students can write observations about patterns
and connections
- Connections: every deck has 12 examples of particular
topic equations with related algebraic and graphic representations
for students to match and use with activities
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