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PEMDAS vs GEMA
PEMDAS vs GEMA
3/8/18
In one of my Instructional Design peer reviews, Michael Edwards offered a great recommendation. He suggested that instead of using the Order of Operations idea of PEMDAS (which I grew up with), to use GEMA. Same idea, but more straightforward. Rather than:
PEMDAS for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/ Division, Addition/ Subtraction,
GEMA uses Grouping, Exponents, Multiplication (division is implied) and Addition (subtraction is implied).
This is one of the things I'm going to have to really study up on. It's been a while since I was in a math classroom. Current trends, terminology , and teaching methods will have to be at the top of my list. All the more reason to pay strict attention with my Field Placement / Practicum.
Thanks, Mike!
Here's an article with the same idea and an interesting backstory / explanation:
http://leafandstemlearning.com/2015/07/why-i-will-never-use-pemdas-to-teach-html/
Dots to Plot
Dots to Plot
This is where I will share my first design of a formative assessment for middle school math, called Dots to Plot.
If you find it useful, please feel free to use the idea and adapt it to your own class!
The exercise is to give students practice solving 2-step linear equations and an introduction to plotting the ordered pairs on a graph. Instead of just a series of varied equations to solve, though, they are instructed to plot the points on the attached grid and number them. Once all of the points have been plotted, they can do the age-old dot-to-dot type puzzle and get a line art illustration (in this case, as sailboat).
My post will include the instruction pack (with grid page) and the answer key (easy to assess, as it can be layered with the student work and held up to a light to check for accuracy).
As they learn higher level equations and plotting, this exercise can be expanded to render more intricate images with polynomial equations and inequalities,
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