Have
you noticed this when teaching Algebra?
I’ve
found that when my algebra students are struggling, the cause is often not the
math, but the instructions and vocabulary.
For
example, if the instructions say “factor the polynomial completely”,
students often write solutions as if solving an equation. As shown below, the student knows how to
factor, but goes beyond that due to misunderstanding how an expression and equation
are different.
Often
it seems as though students are understanding the material, yet they don’t
perform well on assessments. The example
above shows one reason why this may happen.
Here
is another example: “Find the zeros to the quadratic function.” or “Find the
roots to the quadratic function.” (Hands go up … “What are zeros?” or What are roots?”)
The
issue is the vocabulary term. My
students may have mastered using the quadratic formula, yet not have a clue how
to begin to answer this question.
How
can we fix this you ask?
When
you begin the quadratics unit, teach the vocabulary including terms students
may see in instructions. Stress that
“answers, solutions, roots, zeros, and x-intercepts” are all synonyms. Because you know what? It is confusing! Although you may not typically consider these
to be vocabulary terms for the unit, being familiar with these synonyms is
critical to success.
My
advice is to make a conscious effort to teach students about not just the
algebra, but about the most common errors they are likely to make and how to
understand instructions. You may think
it is common sense, but kids don’t have the experience teachers do. After completing high school and college,
we’ve solved so many problems similar
to the one above that we naturally do
what we should because we have learned.
Students are still learning!
