Order of Operations
- Luke Bassett
- Nov 24, 2021
- 2 min read
The 'Why': A standard order to answering questions must exist so that people around the world can agree.
This lesson starts with a question that will likely lead to multiple different answers. Some students will have no knowledge of BIDMAS. Some will remember what BIDMAS is but potentially not complete the individual steps in the correct order. The best path to success is to write down their workings.
Then there is definition section referring to the order of operations throughout. Included at the bottom is a section that gets students to imagine a time when mathematicians across the world disagreed on the answer before coming to the the order of operations before explaining BIDMAS as a technique.
There is also a demonstration of why this works using student pencil cases and packs of pencils as an example. As an extension, you can ask students to confirm that their calculator agrees with them.
Check understanding by asking students to answer questions on a mini whiteboard. If students are still unsure, there is an activity where students are asked simply to identify which part they should do first y underlining. This may not be necessary for more high attaining groups who can move straight on to 'Now try some' tasks.
As extension tasks, there are some 'Who is right' tasks that students can vote for. some trickier questions borrowed from Dr Frost, a secret message to decode, Four 4's borrowed from NRICH and a spot the mistake task that can be used as a plenary.
Activities included:
Mixed answer starter
Order of operations & BIDMAS explanation
Why this works and calculator check
Mini Whiteboard
What comes first?
Try some questions
Who is right?
Four 4's
Trickier questions and Spot the mistake
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