I was introducing how to expand single bracket to a class this week and it got me thinking. I have taught this hundreds of times and in many different ways but what is the best way? Recently I have used an area model to demonstrate. The examples I might use are:
I really like this method as it shows very clearly why 12(x + 1) = 12x + 12 and leads nicely into using a grid for expanding brackets.
So why did I want to change to a different method?
Whilst exploring Open Middle I came across this problem.
I then thought about exploring expanding brackets using the distributive property…
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The Maths Echo Chamber 