Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Index Laws

I was at a presentation yesterday and was shown the following explanation for the "to the power of zero" law.  It used arrays and was a great visual for lower ability students that were unable to grasp the nature of the zero law through subtraction of powers.

It's a short video to help me remember the techniques involved, but thought it might be useful for others.  If I get motivated I will extend it to negative indices.



I can claim no credit for the idea, it was presented by the fantastic Pam Sherrard from Curriculum Support branch, who has collected some great ideas.  If you get a chance to go to her PD as a lower secondary or primary teacher I would highly recommend it - they're good fun.  I've noticed it's not working on my iPad.. I'll work on it.