objective: To teach students to be able to look at a table of a linear function or an arithmetic series and be able to write an expression.
This lesson is geared towards the beginner algebra I student, and is intended to give students a "look and feel" for a linear expression. Through slow steps the students will be able to tell you what a linear/arithmetic series is, and what the expression should look like in their own words.
In the end the lesson also explains how to eliminate the need for using and memorizating a commonly used formula in mathematics textbooks
an = ao+ d(n - 1) a.k.a the nth term of an arithmetic sequence.
What is not in this lesson:
Once students have mastered writing linear expressions, I then like to find applications and use the term terms rate of change(slope) and initial value(y-intercept). And of course, graphical representations of linear expressions/functions are also necessary at some point.
Download the pdf file below to access the lesson.
