Connecting Diagrams to Equations and Solutions

This Instructional Activity is a part of the Lesson 3, Unit 6, Grade 6. This activity continues the work of using a balanced hanger to develop strategies for solving equations. Students are presented with balanced hangers and are asked to write equations that represent them. They are then asked to explain how to use the diagrams, and then the equations, to reason about a solution. Students notice the structure of equations and diagrams and find correspondences between them and between solution strategies.