Algebra in secondary school, for me, was surprisingly something I quite liked! The letters didn't scare me, and it was something that I just got. I think I was one of the only people in my tutor group that didn't partake in the intake of breath when the word algebra was mentioned.
In simple terms, algebra is pattern spotting. Now that doesn't sound so scary, does it?
We were shown a brilliant example of how algebra can be used simply in a Year 2 class, with the use of link cubes. We created a dog out of the cubes, and noted how many cubes made up each body part. We then made another dog, adding an extra cube to each leg and torso, and one more dog, again, adding an extra cube to the legs and torso.
We then created a table, noting the differences between each dog, then extended the sequence. The children would notice that there was a pattern between the dog number, and the amount of cubes that made up the torso and legs - the number of the dog was the same as the number of cubes.
We would then be able to ask the children to estimate the amount of cubes that made up each body part for dog number 99, etc.
I absolutely loved this concept of introducing algebra, and we could introduce the formal algebra (x, y, etc.) in Year 6, where we could ask them to work out how many cubes Dog n would have.
To introduce how different patterns can be interpreted, in pairs, we created and extended our own patterns. I placed down 4 different coloured cubes, expecting my partner to extend the pattern with the same coloured cubes in the same order. However, she extended it in her own way, by using the same colours of the pattern, but using everyday objects of the same colours.
This threw me off a little as I wasn't expecting it, but I loved the concept of patterns being interpreted and worked out in different ways.
This is such a great way to introduce children to the idea of algebra, without jumping straight into the unknown and throwing in letters from the offset.
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