The lesson is designed to start with a discussion about how to describe the relationship between the number of eggs in an egg box and the number of egg boxes. A PowerPoint presentation is available to facilitate this discussion (see Figure 1 for an example of a slide from the PowerPoint presentation).
After the introduction the learners work on the card matching activity. The activity involves matching a set of equations with written descriptions of real life situations. The equations can be linked to the situations because of the way the variables are defined. Once the cards are matched they are pasted onto poster paper. Figure 2 shows a number of cards that have been matched. Note that the matches are not one to one.
A recording sheet was provided for each learner for them to complete and stick in their books (see Figure 3).
Teachers were given big versions of the small cards which they could use to model the matching at the beginning of the activity and to facilitate a whole class discussion after the activity. Figure 4 shows one teacher pointing to the big cards used in her classroom.
Figure 4: A teacher points to big versions of the small cards