Week Three: Number lines and chip models!

This week, we focused on using number line models and chip models/activities to understand negative and positive numbers. We started off with an activity out of our booklets that involved chips to show positive and negative numbers. In this activity, red chips represented negative and yellow represented positive. 


One example we were given was (-3)+(-4)= -7. By using chips, we were taught to show 3 red chips and 4 red chips and total it up to be 7 red chips (or negative).
At first, for me and my group members, this was a bit confusing for us but after awhile we got used to the patterns. 


Here is another example: In the example to the right, we started with two groups, one of 5 positive chips and one of 4 negative chips. In step two, we combined these two groups into one. In step three, we had to match up the amount of negative chips with the equal amount of positive chips (4 and 4). This meant those groups of four cancelled out each other, leaving us with an answer of positive one.

 

These activities got harder as we did subtraction problems instead of addition. For example, we did a problem similar to (-6)-3=-9. For this problem you would do a circle with 6 red chips and a circle with 3 yellow chips. In this problem, since there are no positive numbers to be taken away, you have to add 3 negative chips and 3 positive chips to get to zero. Now that 3 positive chips were removed, you can easily find your answer of -9 by removing yellow chips and leaving you with 9 red chips. 

I found this difficult at first but slowly got the hang of it with more practice! :)