Preservation of Equality

Strand: Patterns and Relations (Variables and Equations)
Outcome: 3

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

Build on students' understanding of preservation of equality from previous grades.
Encourage students to use balance scales to represent various equalities, draw corresponding diagrams and record the process symbolically.
Have students explain their thinking and provide scaffolding to overcome any misconceptions or misunderstandings.
Use examples of equality with everyday contexts so that students can relate to the situation and understand it better.
Use friendly numbers in modelling preservation of equality, initially, so that students can easily draw diagrams to represent the situation.
Include examples with positive and negative integers, using alge-tiles and a balance scale, and reviewing the concept of zero to illustrate equality on both sides of the scale.
Solve a variety of everyday problems by applying the preservation of equality.
Reinforce the role of variables and constants in the preservation of equality.
Integrate the strands in mathematics by applying the preservation of equality to number operations, measurement and statistics and probability.
Encourage students to create problems that can be solved by applying the preservation of equality.

B. Reinforcing and Extending Learning

Students who have achieved or exceeded the outcomes will benefit from ongoing opportunities to apply and extend their learning. These activities should support students in developing a deeper understanding of the concept and should not progress to the outcomes in subsequent grades.

Strategies for Reinforcing and Extending Learning Word