Solving One-sided Equations by Balancing

This lesson introduces students to the method of balancing to solve equations.

Learning objectives:
B) Link scales to the balancing method for solving equations.
S) Solve equations with multiplication and addition.
G) Solve equations with multiplication and subtraction.

All slides are provided with animated answers.

There are several example slides at the beginning followed by some white board questions to ensure understanding.

There is a nice worksheet task with 4 questions where students have, for each question, a scales diagram, an equation, and the value of x.

There is the a list of fifteen questions of increasing difficulty. The first 5 are simply multiplication equations to ensure that students are able to start the activity. The next 5 are with multiplication and addition. The last 5 are with multiplication and subtraction. All solutions are included.

There are then some “progress check” questions (again with solutions) to determine how well the students have understood the lesson.

Finally, there are 4 examples of “Countdown for Keywords” where students are given thirty seconds to sort the letters into one of the lesson’s key words.