Hands-On Equations, Level 2 App
Like the Level 1 app, this app uses the visual and touch features of the mobile device to demystify the abstract concepts of algebra.
This is the same approach that has been used successfully by more than a million students in the United States using the physical game pieces.
This Level 2 app is intended for students (age eight and up) who have completed the Hands-On Equations 1 app.
In Level 1, the student learned how to solve equations such as 4x+3=3x+9 and 2(2x+1)=x+14 using a blue pawn, whose name is x, and red numbered cubes for the constants.
In Level 2, the student learns how to solve equations involving the white pawn, as well as the blue pawn and the red numbered cubes. The white pawn is an unknown like the blue pawn. The name given to the white pawn is “star,” and it is the opposite of the blue pawn.
Dr. Borenson invented a new mathematical symbol for the white pawn, namely an x with a crossbar through it. We cannot display this symbol in this text description of the app and so will simply use the name of the white pawn, “star,” in the equations below.
A video introduction is provided for each lesson. Each video introduction is followed by two examples and ten exercises. It is essential for the student to view the lesson video prior to attempting the examples and exercises for that lesson.
Level 1 consisted of six instructional lessons and a 7th lesson, a review lesson. Level 2 begins with Lesson 8. In Level 2 students learn to solve equations such as 4x + star + 1 = 2x + 5 and 2x – star = 12 using the understanding that x is the opposite of star.