Schedule (Atrium)

In order to fit into the Atrium Institute format, I had to divide my Visual Algebra workshop into three parts. I put all the work involving manipulatives in the Major Strand, and organized the rest into two sessions. This means that some topics (e.g. slope) will appear in different representations at different times. See below to see what happens when, more or less.

Not mentioned below: I will share some thoughts on "Reaching the Full Range" in the Wednesday afternoon keynote, and lead a Math Teachers' Circle session on Thursday afternoon.

◊ This is a tentative schedule, based on my best estimate of how long things take. Topics may move or vanish.

◊ Because of the cumulative nature of the major strand, it is important to attend all four of those sessions.

◊ Mini-breakfast: 8:30 a.m. School day: 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Major Strand: Manipulatives in Algebra

Wednesday morning:

Geoboard 1: stairs and slope

Lab Gear 1: introduction to algebra manipulatives, the area model

Wednesday afternoon:

Lab Gear 2: perimeter, combining like terms; factoring

Difference of squares

Thursday morning:

Lab Gear 3: minus, equations, integer arithmetic
Signed Numbers game

Friday morning:
Geoboard 2: area, distance, and radicals
Lab Gear 4: selected advanced topics, including completing the square

Mini Workshop 1: Tables and Graphs

Thursday afternoon:

Polyomino Perimeter: a discovery lesson connected to many algebra topics
Reading Algebra: including story tables, a powerful representation of order of operations and equation-solving

Interpreting graphs

Mini Workshop 2: Diagrams and Applications

Friday afternoon:

The McNuggets problem: a rich number-based problem
Function Diagrams: parallel axes representation of functions
More with Graphs: optimization, inequalities