From my file cabinet, four “mental algebra” exercises:
I have no idea where I got those. It is my handwriting, but I’m pretty sure I did not make them up. My guess is that I attended a session at a conference where the speaker talked about chunking. Chunking is the practice of looking for expressions within expressions, as a way to get an insight. Developing that skill is one way to strengthen symbol sense.
If I were to use these now, I would get rid of the time pressure, but I would insist that the exercises be done with no pencil, paper, or technology. Exercises of this type could be used as warm-ups in an algebra class, perhaps in rotation with mental arithmetic and mental solving of simple equations.
— Henri
