overview
Linear Equations: A Hands-on Method for Teaching the Connections Among Equations, Tables, & Graphs
Elizabeth S. Hoff & Greg Murphy
Session Description:
Linear equations lay the foundation for all studies of math, beginning with algebra. One of the first essential concepts a student must comprehend is the relationships among a table, equations and a graph as they pertain to collected data. Laying the foundation for this understanding through activities gives students the ability to become involved in their learning and understanding. Participants in this workshop will work through a "flight simulation" and make "jumping frogs" that will lead from the study of linear equations to the eventual understanding of slope. Hoff and Murphy will guide teachers to closely analyze the relationships among tables and equations, equations and graphs and graphs and tables as they relate to linear equations and the understanding of slope. Participants will leave this workshop with two activities that bring linear equations from the realm of the abstract to the concrete level of middle school students.
Elizabeth S. Hoff
Beth Hoff is a seventh-grade integrated algebra teacher at Overland Trail Middle School in Overland Park, Kan. She earned a degree in elementary education and a master's degree in general education with emphasis in mathematics from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She has 60-plus credit hours from colleges and universities around the Kansas City area, with the majority in mathematics education. A member of the Kansas Association of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Hoff has been a workshop presenter at several state conferences. During her 33-year teaching career, she has served on three math textbook adoption committees and piloted a prospective curriculum during the last textbook adoption in her current district, Blue Valley. Blue Valley adopted an NSF-recommended text. Since its adoption, Overland Trail students have raised their scores on the state assessment more than 200 points. For the last two years, students have achieved the Standard of Excellence and last year achieved AYP.
Greg Murphy
Greg Murphy has a bachelor's degree from Union College in Lincoln, Neb., and a master's degree in elementary school administration from Washburn University in Topeka, Kan. He taught at Topeka Adventist School for eight years before becoming the principal of Minnetonka, Minn., Christian Academy. He returned to full-time teaching in 1999 after six years of administrative work. He is now in his third year at Overland Trail Middle School in Overland Park, Kan., where he teaches mathematics to seventh-graders. He worked for the North American Division of Seventh-Day Adventists in writing a physical education curriculum for grades K-12. He served as a member of the Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists Board of Education and the Minnesota Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists Board of Education for 10 years.
