Foreign Language Study

By Curtis Nichols (9-12 classroom)

This is the board onto which students can match cards with words and phrases written in a foreign language.

Order of Operations--the Movie

By Curtis Nichols (9-12 classroom)

I was introducing students to my new "Order of Operations" work and had this inspiration to tell a story. It reminds me a little of the "Three Kings" story that goes with the trinomial cube.

The story of Plus, Minus, Times, Divided-By, and Exponent.
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Along came 2 + 3x4^2 [two plus three times 4 squared] and Plus and Times had an argument about who should be computed first. Times said, "I am so much more evolved and important than you, Plus; **I** am Plus plussed again and again. I *must* be computed first!" So Times went ahead while lowly Plus was forced to wait. But then Exponent barged ahead of even Times, saying, "And ***I*** am more evolved and important even than you, Times, because I am Times many times over. So Exponent got to get into line even before Times. This became the way computing was always done. Plus and Minus would always patiently wait while Times and Divided-By would go first; but if Exponent was around, he would get **all** the attention, even before Times and Divided-By, because he was the most evolved and important of them all.

Times would, of course, never fight with Divided-By because each knew the other was equally important. So they would get computed first-come first-served. Plus and Minus worked out the same arrangement.

Then one day, along came 5 x (3 + 4) [five times the quantity three plus four.] Plus said, "I have guards with me and I *will* go first today!" Because of the guards, Times stepped back and let Plus go. This also became the way computing was always done. When there were guards, the guarded operations would always assume more importance and go first.
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As you tell the story, interact with the children. Ask them, "So who gets to go first here?" Use several examples. Ham it up. Make it DRAMATIC when the guards show up, "Oh, oh, oh, w h a t i s THIS!" Maybe put a little nose on the parenthesis.

This story feeds well into the later work where you give one-word descriptions of the expressions because you can talk about the expression breaking into two at the weakest link (that would be the operation forced by its lowliness to go last.) So in 2 + 3x4^2 [two plus three times 4 squared], the Plus is lowliest, last, and the weakest link. That makes the expression break into two parts at the Plus. This is why we call it a sum.

Yet in 5 x (3 + 4) [five times the quantity three plus four], it is Times that is the weakest link. That makes the expression break into two pieces at the times, making the expression a product of those two pieces.

Molecular Models

By Curtis Nichols (9-12 classroom)

Book 1
980K
Study basic molecules
and track the oxidation
of methane into carbon
dioxide and water.

Teacher-to-Teacher Sharing

Edited by
Curtis J. Nichols

Archives at: 04/27/2003 - 05/03/2003 05/04/2003 - 05/10/2003 05/18/2003 - 05/24/2003 05/25/2003 - 05/31/2003 06/01/2003 - 06/07/2003 06/15/2003 - 06/21/2003 06/22/2003 - 06/28/2003 08/31/2003 - 09/06/2003 09/28/2003 - 10/04/2003 08/15/2004 - 08/21/2004

Edited by Curtis J. Nichols

Edited by
Curtis J. Nichols