Low Floor, High Ceiling Tasks: Algebra

Stanford Professor, Jo Boaler says that "Mathematics classrooms should be places where students work on mathematics tasks with a low entry point but a very high ceiling – so that students are constantly challenged and working at the highest and most appropriate level for them." You can read more: How students should be taught mathematics: for parents

Today some of us looked at this sequence. Students were asked "How is the pattern growing." It was interesting to see how others visualise the patterns.

We discussed what a sequence means. We came up with the definition: It is a pattern and a series of things that get bigger or smaller. We also said from the pattern you can work out what the next one will be. 

Students were Mathematical thinkers and came up with their own questions about the sequence. 

Flynn and Henry: This is a number sequence.we figured out the rest of it.

Orla and Yasmin: Today we figured out the sequence of this pattern we also figured out what the 100th 1 would be. We found out that what the added up together and other stuff like that.

Jan: I have worked out that if x = million (1,000,000) y = one trillion and one (1,000,000,000,001)

Also, this is my graph of the equation y = x squared + 1.

Maddie: Whatever number you want to times it by that number. This shows the equation for the 70,000th in the sequence.