mr-mathematics.

com
Lesson Planning Sheet Title: Factorising Quadratics Learning Objectives: By the end of the lesson: All students should be able to factorise quadratics in the form ax2+bx+c where a = 1 and both factors are positive. Most students should be able to factorise quadratics in the form ax2+bx+c where a = 1 and either or both factors are negative. Some students should be able to factorise quadratics using the difference of two squares. Key words: Factorise, Coefficient, Product, Sum, Difference of two squares Learning Activities Starter/Introduction Students find two numbers that have a given product and sum. This is intended to introduce the key skill for factorising quadratics through a puzzle. Introducing negatives increase the challenge of task and set up for more complex equations later on. Students could attempt the questions on mini-whiteboards so that the teacher can assess progress. Development Although it is not included on the slide it may be beneficial to recap expanding brackets in the form (x+a)(x+b) so that students have a good understanding that the constant term of the quadratic is the product of a and b, and the coefficient of b is the sum of the two. When working through the first example on the slide emphasise the need to list all the factors of c so that the pair that has a sum of b is more easily seen. Moving on to negative factors, emphasise the need to list all the factors of c. Discuss with the students that a negative term makes it more complicated only because there are more factor pairs to eliminate. After quite a bit of practise this skill students should be able to determine the correct factor pair mentally. However, this does take some time and perseverance. For the difference of two squares students should consider that the equation is still in the form ax2+bx+c where in this case the value of b is zero. Pose the question to the students Why the method might be called the difference of two squares? The ideal response would be that the two separate terms each represent that area of a square with the difference being the subtraction. Students should work through the questions on the third slide independently when ready. To check their answers they should expand the brackets so that the equation is back to its original form. Plenary The plenary is intended to enable the students to generalise the concept of factorising quadratics. Each question is one step on from the previous one. Students should attempt each question on their mini-whiteboards one at a time so that feedback can be given progressively. Differentiation More able: Students could factorise equations where the value of a is not equal to one. Less Able Students may benefit from attempting to factorise quadratics where the factors are both positive. This will reduce the number of factor pairs and allow the concept of factorisation becomes embedded. Resources: Mini-whiteboards