Keep Your Balance

Aims & Learning Outcomes

The programme aims to:

• Give examples of manipulating equations, reinforcing the concept of maintaining balance.
• Introduce a range of examples in which letters are used to represent unknowns.
• Provide entertaining lesson material, with opportunities for further exploration.
• Demonstrate a practical, problem-solving approach.

After watching the programme, students should:

• Understand the concept of maintaining a balance by doing the same thing to both sides.
• Appreciate how the physical situation of balanced weights can be represented using algebra, with the equals sign representing the pivot of the balance.
• Be familiar with the mathematics used to solve simple equations.
• Recognise that equations are often solved in stages.
• Understand the how to record the steps in a solution.