Factorising Quadratics

By | 4th November 2022
0 Comment

Download the lesson here

No solving here. Just concentrating on the core skill of factorising. I started with an example and then this

Giving them one bracket so we build up the skill. But wait.

*MISCONCEPTION TIME*

It doesn’t matter which way around the brackets go but on this exercise it kinda makes it look like it does

*MISCONCEPTION TIME*

Did this this cause an issue with my students? No. Because I pointed out this to them. Sometimes sharing your thought processes when planning is a really useful thing.

Then there’s a regular exercise, and then this

Yes. I’ve had someone make emojis of my own face to use in my lesson resources. This might be one of the most egotistical things any maths teacher has done. Which leads into…
I’d rather do this as an extension rather than solving as I believe solving is this whole other thing. I’m going to do a PowerPoint wholly devoted to solving quadratics. I really do believe the skills are better split up this way.

Other thoughts

  • This only deals with quadratics where a=1. I’ve done a whole over PowerPoint on a>1 here.
  • Thinking about factorising quadratics in depth, you could easily do 2 lessons on factorising, 1/2 on non-monic quadratics and 1/2 on solving after you’ve factorised. And that’s without even talking much about graphs. My current year 11 scheme of work has ‘solving by factorising’ in one lesson. There is too much content in GCSE/IGCSE.