Algebraic Habits of Mind

What are Algebraic Habits of Mind?

 Doing-Undoing

• As stated by Driscoll "effective algebraic thinking

sometimes involves reversibility (i.e., being able
to undo mathematical processes as well as do
them)." Ideally, we as teachers and our students
should be able to not only use an algebraic
procedure to obtain an answer (the "Doing"
direction), but also work our way from the last
step of said procedure back to the original input
to the problem (the "Undoing" direction).
• Doing-Undoing
– How is this number in the sequence related to the
one that came before?
– What if I start at the end?
– Which process reverses the one I’m using?
– Can I decompose this number or
expression into helpful components?
 Building Rules to Represent Functions

• Organizing data and uncovering hidden relationship

is a crucial ability that all citizens of our modern
world should posses. Our modern world is
characterized, in among many other ways, as one
where data plays a key role. Everyday we are
bombarded with lots of data which we must make
sense of. The algebraic habit of mind of Building
Rules to Represent Functions I think encaptures this
fundamental ability of transforming data into
functions.
 Building Rules to Represent Functions

– Is there a rule or relationship here?

– How does the rule work and how is it helpful?
– Why does the rule work the way it does?
– How are things changing?
– Is there information here that lets me predict what’s going to happen?
– Does my rule work for all cases?
– What steps am I doing over and over?
– Can I write down a mechanical rule that will do this job once and for all?
– How can I describe the steps without using specific inputs?
– When I do the same thing with different numbers, what still holds true?
What changes?
– Now that I have an equation, how do the numbers (parameters) in the
equation related to the problem context?
 Abstracting from Computation
.

• One of the key features of Algebra is the ability to

manipulate quantities without knowledge as to what
the exact value of the quantity is. This Habit of Mind
directly builds in previous knowledge from
arithmetic but at the same times generalizes to far
more powerful and reaching situations. A good
example of Abstracting from Computation is the
famous sum of the first n natural numbers.
• This is a very rich mathematical problem that has
been worked in a myriad of ways.
 Abstracting from Computation

– How is this calculating situation like/unlike that one?

– How can I predict what’s going to happen without doing all the
calculations?
– What are my operation shortcut options for getting from here
to there?
– When I do the same thing with different numbers, what still
holds true? What changes?
– What are other ways to write that expression that will bring out
hidden meaning?
– How can I write the expression in terms of things I care about?
– How does this expression behave like that one?
 So, what exactly is Algebra?

• Algebra is the fundamental language of

mathematics from which we: create a mathematical
model of a situation, provide mathematical
structure to use in a model, link numerical and
graphical representation, condense large amounts of
data into efficient statements, analyze change,
understand functions and variables (understand the
idea and the variety of uses), interpret mathematical
statements and, create and move fluently between
multiple representations for data.
• Ways of thinking about algebra that can greatly
benefit students' understanding and
development of the subject.
• Developing algebraic habits of mind
• Meaningful use of symbols
• Mindful manipulation
• Reasoned solving
• Connecting algebra with geometry
• Linking expressions and functions
• Five specific teaching ingredients that are all used in ways that develop
the algebraic habits of mind. All of the following can be adapted to a
variety of educational contexts, teaching styles, and core curricula:
• mental mathematics activities that build computational fluency and
strengthen executive function
• mathematical puzzles to support algebraic reasoning, arithmetic facility,
and perseverance in problem solving
• exploration-based learning to support pattern identification and
description with algebraic notation
• broadly useful mathematical tools such as number lines and area
models that offer students spatial ideas to support their understanding
of numbers and algebra
• classroom discussions that support meaningful mathematical
communication and precision and that broaden problem-solving
techniques