This website contains a range of PowerPoint presentations, worksheets and activities covering the algebra requirements of the GCSE maths syllabus. There are also a few activities aimed at encouraging students to explore topics further, and therefore deepen their understanding.
The resources come with lesson plans indicating how they have been used in the classroom by myself. The individual PowerPoints and activities can however be used by themselves, depending on your own teaching preference.
Brett Williams, Harris City Technology College, 2007
A teacher led PowerPoint introduces the methods for doing this. This is followed by an activity in which students match equations to the steps needed to solve them.
A teacher led PowerPoint encourages discussion on negative powers. After completing examples students compete against the teacher to find powers to fill the blanks in a series of unfinished equations.
This activity, introduced using a PowerPoint presentation, reviews factors of numbers in an investigative and open ended way.
This PowerPoint and worksheet demonstrate how to use Venn diagrams to find the HCF and LCM for algebraic expressions, and then use this to factorise expressions. (NB - students should have prior knowledge of prime numbers.)
A PowerPoint asks students to look for patterns when expanding related pairs of brackets. By pattern spotting, students will be able to expand double brackets with particular attention to the middle terms.
An investigation tying together the work on quadratics. Students can move on to prove their result. (NB - students should be able to factorise expressions containing a squared term. An optional worksheet is provided to cover this)
Introduces the notion of finding the zeroes of a quadratic equation, and how factorising helps to achieve this. Students then solve examples which help them find a route through a maze.
A teacher-led PowerPoint builds familiarity with what effect various elements of the formula have on the solutions. Students then play a game and complete worksheets.
A PowerPoint demonstrates the relationship between inequalities and areas on a graph. Students then play 'inequality snap' - matching inequalities to points that satisfy them.
A PowerPoint and worksheet demonstrating how to use trial and improvement to find a solution to a given number of decimal places.
Introduces a variety of methods for solving, including:
The lesson also looks at examples of simultaneous equations problems explained in everyday language.
A series of PowerPoint demonstrations show the relationship between the triangle and the coefficients of expanded brackets and how to find the value of coefficients.