A Rocket & Raven series
A free online middle-school algebra course for Grades 6 to 8: powers, variables, equivalent expressions, equations and inequalities, slope, linear functions, systems of equations and scientific notation, worked out with a coat-hanger balance, envelopes, beans and graph paper, plus a Puzzle Night project.
Expressions and Equations is a free online algebra course for Grades 6 to 8 that uses only things a family already has: a wire coat hanger and two paper cups for a balance, dried beans or buttons, envelopes to hide a number, index cards, masking tape, a tape measure, graph paper and a timer. The crew runs the Puzzle Post, a weekly puzzle for the kids on their street, and every week's math makes a puzzle work. Students fold paper to find powers, hide a number in an envelope and write expressions for it, rearrange beans to see why 3(x + 2) is 3x + 6, keep a coat-hanger balance level to solve one-step and two-step equations, graph inequalities on a taped floor number line, feed a cardboard rule machine to see how one quantity depends on another, measure a ramp to find slope, time a dripping jug to build a linear function, sort equations into one, none or infinitely many solutions, cross two strings on graph paper to find where two lines meet, and write very large and very small numbers with powers of ten. Every question is checked as the student answers it, every answer is computed by the course itself, and the course maps week by week to the Common Core Grade 6, 7 and 8 standards for expressions, equations and functions. It ends with a Puzzle Night the student runs for the family. Short lessons run Monday to Friday, with a hands-on Puzzle Lab each week, and Saturday is Puzzle Day.
The course is free, start to finish.
Free online middle-school algebra course · 12 weeks
A garage-corner algebra workshop: powers, variables, equivalent expressions, equations and inequalities, slope, linear functions, systems, scientific notation and a Puzzle Night.
Nothing. Expressions and Equations is free from start to finish, with no card. A free parent account saves each student's progress.
A wire coat hanger, two paper cups and string for the balance, small counters (dried beans, buttons or paper squares), a few envelopes, index cards, masking tape, a ruler or tape measure, graph paper or plain paper, a cardboard box, a kitchen timer or a phone clock, a marker and a notebook.
Yes. Ratios and Data covers the Grade 6 and 7 ratio, number-system and statistics standards. Expressions and Equations picks up with powers and variables and assumes fractions, decimals, negative numbers and the coordinate plane.
The Common Core Grade 6, 7 and 8 standards for expressions and equations and the Grade 8 functions standards. Geometry and the Grade 8 number system are left for a later course.
No. The balance hangs from a hook a grown-up checks, nothing heavy goes in a cup, small counters stay away from children under three, scissors are used with a grown-up, and water stays over a tray. Every hands-on activity carries a safety note.