Playing games can be a great way to practice or review skills related to algebraic expressions.
September 19, 2023 close modal SDI Productions / iStock
For some students, learning algebraic expressions feels like drudgery, but it doesn’t have to be that way. These three activities will get your students moving, talking, and thinking deeply about algebraic expressions, all while having fun. They’re also a great way to practice or review skills that have already been introduced and explicitly taught.
1. Vocabulary Four Corners. Many students are overwhelmed by the prospect of translating a word problem into an algebraic expression. To help students feel confident recognizing keywords and appropriately converting them into numerical operations, you can introduce students to Vocabulary Four Corners.
In this version of Four Corners, you invite all students to move around the room based on a given vocabulary word. First, designate each corner of your classroom as an operation—addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. Next, have all students stand behind their desks. Then, present students with a key vocabulary word and instruct them to move to the corresponding corner of the room. Once students have selected a corner, you can give them time to discuss their choice in groups and then call on a few students to share their thinking with the class.
This activity is a great way to help students review keywords while getting active in the classroom, moving around, and having a chance to talk in groups. If you want to make the activity more challenging, you can ask students to explain their thinking by making up sample story problems that use the given keyword.
2. How’d You Do It? This next activity is a great way to help students recognize the multitude of possibilities when working with algebraic expressions. There are a few different ways to implement this activity, depending on the amount of time you want to spend, but the basic structure is this: You present students with an algebraic term, and they come up with as many different algebraic expressions as possible that would simplify to your given term.
One way to do this is with a gallery walk. First, you need to post chart paper around the classroom and put one term on the top of each piece of paper. Next, split students into small groups and assign each group a piece of chart paper. Then, give students a set amount of time to spend writing their algebraic expressions on the chart paper before moving on to the next piece of paper as a group.
Once every group has had a chance to work on each piece of paper, you can then give students additional time to walk around the room and look at all of the expressions. Students may notice patterns in the types of numbers or operations their classmates used, or they may identify expressions that do not simplify to the given number. Students should share these thoughts within their small groups and then with the class at large.
If you don’t want to use a gallery-walk approach, this same activity can work with small groups seated around the classroom. You can provide students with a term and a given amount of time to work together to come up with as many expressions as possible. You can then have groups share their expressions. If you want to make the activity more of a competition, you can even assign points for the numbers of unique expressions each group finds.
This activity helps students get creative and recognize how many possibilities exist when creating equivalent expressions. Depending on how difficult you want to make the activity, you can set additional parameters: Students must use negative numbers, students must use at least three operations, students must use division, etc.
An example of what students might come up with follows.
