Experience First

Today students will work on a circuit training activity to review concepts of Unit 0. To complete this activity, students should start in the upper left box, work the problem, then search for the answer in one of the other boxes. Once they find it, they will label that box #2, then work the new problem. Students will continue in this manner until they reach the 18th question, whose answer should be in box 1. If students “short-circuit” and return to the first box without having completed all the problems, they will know there was a mistake made somewhere. 

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Students may work on the circuit individually, though they generally prefer to work in pairs or groups of three. You may wish to provide whiteboards (or other non-permanent surfaces) for students to work out problems and as a tool to facilitate collaboration among group members.

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Formalize Later

Answers in the circuit are intentionally similar, so students have to attend to precision in their problem solving. This is especially true for the questions about equations of lines as the slopes and given points differ only slightly. Encourage students to use multiple representations to solve problems, particularly the word problems about volume and recreation passes. 

You may wish to spend the last 10 minutes of class discussing assessments in math, as this is the first one of the school year. Despite being in an advanced course, some students still struggle to understand what it means to study for a math test. Remind students that you value their thinking and reasoning, not just their final answer. Encourage students to write their own practice questions that feature multiple representations. It is important that students know that the assessment will not just be a replica of previously worked problems with different numbers, but will have students apply their conceptual understanding in a new way.