Algebra Textbook Analysis (aka: What’s Wrong with My Textbook?) Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)

What does Dan Meyer have to say about textbooks? Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)

An example from Dan: what algebra unit should this be in? What should we do to this problem to make it more real? Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)

Dan talks about ‘climbing the ladder of abstraction’. Is this the bottom rung of the ladder? Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)

Moving up one rung on the ‘ladder of abstraction’. What have we done? Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)

This is the second to last rung on the ‘ladder of abstraction’. What have we done? What’s left to do? Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)

And finally, we get where we want to be. How much longer does this take? Is it worth your time? Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)

From Geometry, McDougal Littell, Jurgensen, Brown and Jurgensen, Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS) A cow is tied by a 25 m long rope to the corner of a barn as shown. A fence keeps the cow out of the garden. Find, to the nearest square meter, the grazing area. Here’s a GREAT problem from a textbook, but....

The textbook solution. How would you solve this with a bunch of middle schoolers? Algebra Common Core State Standards (ACCSS)