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Equality and Inequality

Strand: Patterns and Relations (Variables and Equations)
Outcomes: 4, 5

Step 5: Follow-up on Assessment

Guiding Questions

• What conclusions can be made from assessment information?
• How effective have instructional approaches been?
• What are the next steps in instruction?

A. Addressing Gaps in Learning

If a student is having difficulty learning the concept of an equation, you may have to go back to writing simple equations, using the basic number facts from 1 to 10. Students should have access to counters as they work on writing equations such as 2 + 4 = 6. Students should also have counters to check which of two numbers is larger and how they can write an inequality using symbols.

Students may need additional time to reinforce the notion of the equation as a balance, using a pan balance.

B. Reinforcing and Extending Learning

Students who have achieved or exceeded the outcomes will benefit from ongoing opportunities to apply and extend their learning.

Consider strategies, such as the following.

• Have students complete number sentences where they fill in the missing numbers; e.g.,

4 + ___ = 15                      7 + 3 = ___ + 6                       15 > ___ + 9

___ + 3 < 5 + 4                 11 + ___ = ___ + 10               ___ – 2 = 6 + 3

• Provide students with challenging questions, for example:
  
  In a Grade 1 class, there are six girls and nine boys. The other class has more girls and fewer boys. If this class has an equal number of boys and girls, how many students are in the class? Are there other answers?
  
  Nadir has some nickels and dimes. If Nadir has 10 coins altogether and she has 60 cents, how many nickels does she have?

• Have students write their own problems, using as a basis a number sentence you provide; e.g., what word problem might be answered using the equation 9 + 2 = 11?
  
• Have students write number sentences that are missing the =, < or >. Ask students to work with a partner and have them trade their number sentences with the missing symbols and try to complete their partner's sentences. (Hint: students might want to write a complete sentence and then remove the symbol.)