EquaBeam

The EquaBeam strips transform the EquaBeam into a powerful tool for teaching young learners how to solve ARITHMETIC WORD PROBLEMS. The strips reveal the unstated mathematical facts in many such problems- facts like 60 minutes equal an hour or four quarters equal a dollar. They highlight these unstated or hidden facts- facts which often must be used to arrive at solutions. The EquaBeam, itself, upon being balanced in accordance with the givens in a problem, depicts the solution sentence for the problem. The following are examples of facts questions that can be answered and arithmetic word problems that can be solved on the EquaBeam for the Minutes (15’s) /Hours strips and the Dimes & Decimal $ strips. Similar questions and problems about time and money can be written for the EquaBeam using the other strips.The beam extends out to 12 instead of 10 and therefore takes advantage of the divisibility or for multiplication (e.g., 3 x 4 = 12), division ( e.g., 12: 6 = 2 ) and fractions ( e.g., 1/3 + 1/4 = 7/12), as well as everyday “equalities such as 12 5 minute intervals in an hour, 12 inches in 1 foot and 12 months in a year.