Before the third intervention activity, I taught students how to solve equations with
fractional coefficients (section 7-3). So for the 7-3 activity I gave students the example
13
problem
2
11
8
3
6
5
=−
xx
(Appendix 4). After the problem I wrote the solution to the problem step by
step. Students then wrote an explanation step by step of how and why those steps were being
done. I wanted to see if students could explain the math behind the problem, and in order to do
that, I did not want them to focus on whether they were solving the problem correctly so I gave
them the solution. Students read one another’s explanations and made comments about them in
order to improve the explanation. After reading their partner’s comments, students had the ability
to improve their explanations.