Integrative Pre-Algebra for Students in Homeless Situations

Objectives

  • To provide pre-algebra knowledge and skills that are appropriate for students (grades 3-10), for parents, advocates, teachers, shelter providers, and volunteers.
  • To demonstrate the use of PowerPoint presentations which incorporate the use of common and available instructional materials to construct concepts, discover relationships, invent models, organize, and communicate in the language of algebra.
  • To communicate research data that demonstrates that adults, with positive attitudes and the appropriate instructional materials, can impact the mathematics education of students in homeless situations.

Homeless Situations

According to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 2001, the term "homeless children and youth" means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes:

  • Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
  • Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
  • Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings;
  • Migratory children who qualify as homeless for purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described above.

Pre-Algebra Activities

Eight stand alone pre-algebra activities:

Title Manipulative Materials
1. Geometric Shapes Tangrams
2. Attribute Blocks Attribute blocks
3. Modeling Numbers Number tiles
4. Counting by Fives Base 5 pieces
5. Illustrating Integers Two color counters
6. Computing Fractions Fraction bars
7. Algebra Tiles Algebra tiles
8. Building Volume Snap Cubes
9. Angles on a Geoboard Circular Geoboard
10. Areas on a Geoboard 5X5 Geoboard
11. Linear Expressions Eraseable graph board
12. Probability Coins, cards, and spinners
13. Pythagroem Theorem Grid paper on card stock
14. Percent Decimal untis, tens, and hundreds materials
15. Saving Coins - Functions/variables Groups of coins and tables on card stock
16. Perimeters Pattern blocks
   

Contact Information

Contact webmaster: prealgbr@utdallas.edu

Director: George W. Fair
The University of Texas at Dallas
800 West Campbell, GR 26
Richardson, TX 75080-3021
Email: gwfair@utdallas.edu
Tel: 972-883-2350

Administrative Assistant:
Rebecca Wiser
The University of Texas at Dallas
800 West Campbell, GR 26
Richardson, TX 75080-3021
Email: rwiser@utdallas.edu
Tel: 972-883-2354

Updated: August 1, 2008