Just Enough Algebra

This textbook is written for students. That means you won’t find list of student learning objectives anywhere, although I’m sure you can infer them from the student-focused “Do you know …” questions in each section. While the narrative examples develop the main theme of each section, I’ve deliberately left some variations for the practice exercises (#1-4 in each section). These practice exercises are designed to be started during class and are printed in a separate workbook for that purpose. Hand-written solutions to the practice exercises are available (in electronic format) for students to check their work, whether in class or at home.

At Augsburg College we usually begin class with a brief entrance quiz on the previous section or some other activity to review. Next, the instructor presents one well-chosen example illustrating the main theme of the new section and works through that problem on the board, with students helping with the calculations along the way. For me, part of the fun of teaching this course is creating lecture examples from the day’s news or connected to popular culture, but in a pinch there is often an exercise in the textbook that can be used for that purpose.

Then, students work with a classmate on the practice exercises (#1-4 in each section) while the instructor circulates to answer questions and help students stay on task. The first exercise in each section of the workbook parallels the main theme, but I’ve deliberately left some variations for students to discover in the second and third exercises. The fourth exercise varies, but often wanders a bit off the main path. We normally budget 30 minutes of class time for student work. This timing allows nearly all students to finish at least the first exercise and check their solution; most students finish two or three exercises; and even our fastest students rarely finish all four exercises in under 30 minutes.

My greatest success in teaching this course has been to give students room to figure things out for themselves, so try to resist the temptation to show them one of everything. Listen to your students and help them understand the algebra in their own vocabulary. You will be impressed.