Early algebra ideas about binomial expansion, Stephanie's interview one of seven, Clip 1 of 9: The Distributive property, Distributing a number over variables.

In the first clip in a series of nine from the first of seven interviews in which 8th grade Stephanie explores Early Algebraic Ideas about Binomial Expansion, the researcher, Carolyn A. Maher, asks a series of questions about distributing a number over a quantity composed of the sum of two variables. Stephanie noted earlier that she worked earlier on finding the perimeter of quadrilaterals in her 8th grade algebra class and that the perimeter of a rectangle can by represented symbolically by 2(W + L) or 2W + 2L. When Maher asks Stephanie about 5(W + L), they explored together the relationship between multiplication and repeated addition for this expression. Maher asked Stephanie whether she remembered using "boxes" and "triangles" to represent variables. The problem as presented to Stephanie: 5 (W + L) is written on Stephanie's paper below 2(W + L) = 2W + 2L. The researcher asks: Could you do that?Transcript and student work are also available.Robert B. Davis Institute for Learning. (1995). Early algebra ideas about binomial expansion, Stephanie's interview one of seven, Clip 1 of 9: The Distributive property, Distributing a number over variables. [video] Retrieved fro