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Seven-Lesson Kindergarten Equal Sign Sequence

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

Seven lessons within an 18-lesson kindergarten early algebra intervention that "focused specifically on developing students’ understandings of mathematical equivalence and fluency with equations". The sequence moves from comparing quantities on a pan balance and writing a = a, through number balances, decomposing numbers with Unifix cubes and writing c = a + b, to true/false and missing value equations and the Additive Identity.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Pan balances, number balances and Unifix cubes for concrete representations of equations
  • Tasks such as true/false and missing value equations, which the article says have been found supportive of a relational view of the equal sign
  • Lessons of approximately 30 minutes each

Constraints

  • The authors state future studies are needed to separate the influence of the particular tasks from other aspects of students' classroom experiences on their growth

Target Learners

  • Kindergarten students in the Northeastern U.S. taking part in an early algebra intervention

Target Goals

  • A relational understanding of the equal sign as indicating the equivalence of two amounts
  • Acceptance of equations in forms other than a + b = c

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Sung, Y., Stephens, A., Veltri Torres, R., Strachota, S., Blanton, M., Gardiner, A., Stroud, R., & Knuth, E. (2022). Teacher Language and Gesture in an Intervention Focused on Developing Kindergarteners' Understandings of the Equal Sign. Proceedings of the forty-fourth annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED630361
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id kindergarten-balance-scale-equal-sign-lesson-sequence
title Seven-Lesson Kindergarten Equal Sign Sequence
description Seven lessons within an 18-lesson kindergarten early algebra intervention that "focused specifically on developing students’ understandings of mathematical equivalence and fluency with equations".
status review
generated by claude/unspecified on 2026-09-24
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — sung-2022

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