Chapter 3 Review, Continued (Day 38)

Today's Pappas problem has nothing to do with Geometry, and neither does yesterday's. But the problem from Sunday is related to something I discussed recently on the blog:

527[(24 / 3) - 8]805 + 6

And on the actual calendar, the division is indicated by a division sign (obelus) while multiplication is indicated by -- that's right! -- juxtaposition. That viral math problem 8 / 2 (2 + 2) also combines an obelus with implied multiplication.

Fortunately, this problem can be unambiguously completed using PEMDAS without any ambiguity with the precedence of obelus-division and implied multiplication. The value inside the outermost parentheses (or brackets) is clearly zero, and since this is one of the factors to multiply, the product must be zero. (Aren't you glad you don't have to multiply 527 by 805?) So the desired value must be 0 + 6, or 6 -- and of course, yesterday's date was the sixth.

By the way, I'm still thinking about last week's subbing in a science class -- and what my class at the old charter school might have looked like if it had resembled last week's.

In particular, it's possible that my Fridays could have looked like last Friday's science class. Recall that the four tasks that day were reviewing for the vocab quiz, giving the vocab quiz, preparing for next week's vocab quiz, and then a worksheet.

I could have implemented a weekly vocab quiz right around the time that the powers that be told me to have "word walls" (with no explanation as to what that meant). Yes, vocabulary matters in math as well, but it's critical in science. Knowing what the words mean is half the battle in a science class -- if the students know the words, then they're likely to pass a science test (including the eighth grade California Science Test).

In fact, I could have almost made Friday's lesson plan the entirety of my science for the week. All that's left out are possible science labs. I could have either kept the math STEM projects or replaced them with science projects, possibly on Wednesdays (or another day for seventh grade, since that class didn't meet on Wednesdays).

Interactive notebooks aren't necessary here, since the vocab is written on flashcards instead. But such notebooks still might have been a good idea for math.

Ah yes, it's time to continue our review for the Chapter 3 Test. Now I decided to take another old worksheet from three years ago, which contain part of a test (as it starts with #12). So I need to create a new worksheet numbered #1-11.

Well, recall that next week is PSAT week. Some may find it awkward to make students study for a full math test on Tuesday, implying that next week's PSAT isn't important.

But now suppose Questions #1-11 are in fact PSAT-like problems. We know that the SAT, and by extension the PSAT, emphasizes (the Heart of) Algebra more than Geometry. Well, Chapter 3 is an excellent chapter to focus on algebra problems. Many algebra equations, for example, can be converted into Geometry problems simply by writing the left and right sides of the equation as the measures of vertical angles and then ask for the value of the variable. This chapter teaches vertical angles and linear pairs, as well as slope (another major PSAT/SAT topic).

Earlier, I wrote that I don't want to force algebra on our Geometry students so soon -- and indeed, I didn't force algebra on the students in Chapters 1 and 2. But Chapter 3 is a great time to begin slowly reintroducing algebra, since it's timed perfectly with PSAT week. (Again, the "Postulates from Algebra" don't appear until Chapter 3 in the new Third Edition of the Geometry text, again marking Chapter 3 as the "algebra" chapter.)

So notice the new Chapter 3 Review worksheet, with algebra Problems #1-11.