Class 7 News

Exploring the Roots of Mathematics

Our Class 7 Algebra Main Lesson has been taking us on an exciting journey through the origins of algebra. We are visiting the ancient Greeks and Romans, and this has been leading us to the Persians and Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi, the founder of what we now know as Al Jebr (Algebra). We have been examining his findings and applying them to today’s problem-solving. We have been working out riddles using algebraic rules and learning to work with letters as replacements for unknowns. It has been a joy working with Class 7 and witnessing their inquisitiveness and keenness to solve problems with their newly acquired tools. As we approach the final days of our algebra unit, we are looking forward to more wonderful discoveries and deepening our understanding of this fundamental branch of mathematics.

The introduction of Algebra represents a major conceptual leap for the students. While the concrete, logical rules and processes bring the children very much into their thinking realm, their new-found logical reasoning skills are applied to the representation of the concrete with the abstract. The rules and processes of Algebra are developed out of working with simple formulae and the use of pronumerals, brackets and negative numbers in equations as a technique for solving practical problems.

During this topic, the aims are to engender in the students an appreciation of how general rules of arithmetic become clear through algebra, and to enable the children to grasp the principle of balance in an equation.

This Main Lesson seeks to bring to the children inner experiences of the stability and predictability of Mathematical laws, while offering versatile and practical problem solving techniques that satisfy their increasing interest in matters of the world. Conceptual thinking is strengthened, and students enjoy awakening to a feeling of the power inherent in their thought processes. (ASCF Mathematics 7.1)

Dan