This video was created by NCDPI. This video examines best practices and research related to developing computational fluency. Teaching strategies and tips are provided.

In this lesson, students will estimate capacity and the relationship between several unusally shaped containers. They will verify relationships, express the relationship using variables, and apply the expressions to determine equivalent portions for each standard unit.

Four full-year digital course, built from the ground up and fully-aligned to the Common Core State Standards, for 7th grade Mathematics. Created using research-based approaches to teaching and learning, the Open Access Common Core Course for Mathematics is designed with student-centered learning in mind, including activities for students to develop valuable 21st century skills and academic mindset.

Algebraic Reasoning

Type of Unit: Concept

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers.
Evaluate expressions for a value of a variable.
Use the distributive property to generate equivalent expressions including combining like terms.
Understand solving an equation or inequality as a process of answering a question: which values from a specified set, if any, make the equation or inequality true?
Write and solve equations of the form x+p=q and px=q for cases in which p, q, and x are non-negative rational numbers.
Understand and graph solutions to inequalities x<c or x>c.
Use equations, tables, and graphs to represent the relationship between two variables.
Relate fractions, decimals, and percents.
Solve percent problems included those involving percent of increase or percent of decrease.

Lesson Flow

This unit covers all of the Common Core State Standards for Expressions and Equations in Grade 7. Students extend what they learned in Grade 6 about evaluating expressions and using properties to write equivalent expressions. They write, evaluate, and simplify expressions that now contain both positive and negative rational numbers. They write algebraic expressions for problem situations and discuss how different equivalent expressions can be used to represent different ways of solving the same problem. They make connections between various forms of rational numbers. Students apply what they learned in Grade 6 about solving equations such as x+2=6 or 3x=12 to solving equations such as 3x+6=12 and 3(x−2)=12. Students solve these equations using formal algebraic methods. The numbers in these equations can now be rational numbers. They use estimation and mental math to estimate solutions. They learn how solving linear inequalities differs from solving linear equations and then they solve and graph linear inequalities such as −3x+4<12. Students use inequalities to solve real-world problems, solving the problem first by arithmetic and then by writing and solving an inequality. They see that the solution of the algebraic inequality may differ from the solution to the problem.

Students explore the effects of wind on a plane's time and distance and represent these situations using algebraic expressions and equations. They use terms with positive, negative, and zero coefficients.Key ConceptsIn this lesson, students show what they remember from Grade 6 about writing expressions and solving one-step equations. They use what they learned earlier in Grade 7 about adding and subtracting integers. They extend these concepts to write and interpret an expression with a negative coefficient.Goals and Learning ObjectivesReview addition and subtraction of integers.Review the relationship between distance, time, and speed.Write an algebraic expression for distance in terms of time, t.Write a term with a negative coefficient.Review solving a one-step equation using the multiplication property of equality.

This lesson unit is intended to help you assess how well students are able to: Calculate the mean, median, mode, and range from a frequency chart; and to use a frequency chart to describe a possible data set, given information on the mean, median, mode, and range.

In this lesson, students encounter a situation in which they must solve for the value of a variable. The equations are in the form of p = qx, in which q, x, and p are all whole number values. This CYBERCHASE activity is motivated by an episode in which the CyberSquad plays a game against Hacker to catch enough "gleamers" to power up the Cyberspace ship. If they win, they get the Encryptor Chip. But first, they must figure out the relationship between gleamers and power glows.