Order of Operations

Authors:  Joanne Hodgson and Jennifer Campbell
Schools:  Rush Strong School and White Pine School
Grade Level:  Seventh Grade   Eighth Grade

Subjects
 

Math

Time Frame
Two days of about 45 minutes

Objectives

In this lesson, students will:

• The students will follow the four-step order of operations procedures.
• The students will solve eight out of ten order of operations problems correctly on a teacher made quiz.

 

Chart of 4 steps to solve order of operations to be placed on the wall
Power Point presentation, "Order of Operation 2"
Practice problems
Order of operations quiz
Individual dry erase boards, dry erase markers, and erasers*
Game pieces**

Procedure

Day 1
The teacher will teach the four- step procedure.  Using the Power Point presentation, the teacher will explain the procedure
1. Solve all operations in parenthesis *
2. Solve all exponents*
3. Solve any multiplication or division operations*
4. Solve any addition or subtraction operations*
*- if one or more of any of the above, students should solve them from left to right

 After the lesson, they will play a game called Order of Operations War.  The teacher divides the class into equal size teams that are arranged in rows.  The teacher will give each team a card with the same problem written on each card.  The first person writes the problem down and hands the card to the next team member and works his own problem.  This continues until the last person gets the card.  When the last person in the group to receive the card gets finished, he/she stands up.  The teacher will call on that student, and  everyone must put down his or her pencils.  If the student answers correctly, the teacher will figure up the score by giving one point for each correct answer on that team.  If the student answers incorrectly, the teacher will call on the next person to stand up (note that only the last person to get the card in another group may stand up).  The game continues for about 20 minutes.  The team that wins can be rewarded at the teacher’s discretion.  The will then be given a homework assignment to work the last few minutes of class.  The teacher should supervise questions or problems.

Day 2
  To grade homework from the following day, teachers may use their own system or use the one from this lesson.  The teacher will select five random problems from the student’s entire assignment.  They will be required to write these problems on a separate sheet of paper that will be turned into the teacher.  From those five problems, the teacher will be able to derive a homework grade and see that the student has mastered the skill.  Students will then put the original homework in a notebook to be reviewed at a later date.  The students will then do more practice problems on the individual dry erase boards.  Teacher can continue the Order of Operation 2 PowerPoint practice problems for a 10 to 20-minute review before the quiz.  Students will take teacher made quiz that should use the rest of the time.

Curriculum Frameworks Addressed by this Lesson:

• The learner will use patterns and functions to represent and solve problems.
• The learner will model and solve problems using algebraic methods.

    Lesson Plans