Algebra 1 9-12
A garage-loft workshop: equations, functions, systems, exponents, polynomials, factoring, quadratics and lines of best fit, for a ramp course and a bottle rocket.
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Algebra 1
A free online high-school Algebra 1 course for Grades 9 to 12: units and expressions, linear equations and inequalities, functions, linear graphs and models, sequences, systems, exponents and exponential change, polynomials, factoring, quadratic equations and graphs, and lines of best fit, built around a ramp course and a bottle-rocket launcher for a neighborhood Maker Fair.
About the series
Algebra 1 is a free online high-school algebra course for Grades 9 to 12 that needs only a tape measure, graph paper, paper cups, string, a plastic bottle and a bicycle pump. Comet and Wren, the older crew, turn a garage loft into the Loft and build a ramp course and a bottle-rocket launcher for the neighborhood Maker Fair, and every week's math makes a build work: units for the plank, equations for the parts count, a crank-box function machine, the cart's timing graph, a paper-cup tower, two carts meeting, a folded strip and a bouncing ball, cardboard tiles for the launch pad, and the rocket's flight. Students study a worked example, compare two ways to solve, answer questions whose answers are computed and checked, and keep a Loft Log. The course maps week by week to the Common Core high-school standards for number and quantity, algebra, functions and statistics, states no fact about the world, and ends with a Fair Day run for the family.
In every course
- Grades 9 to 12, about 20 minutes a day
- Twelve weeks, from units and expressions to quadratics and lines of best fit
- Every question answer computed and checked, never typed by hand
- A hands-on Loft Lab every Wednesday with household materials
- The older crew, Comet and Wren, with Nova
- Maps to the Common Core high-school algebra, functions, number and statistics standards
- A Saturday Loft Day for the family, with a note for the grown-up
- Free, start to finish. No card.
The course
The course is free, start to finish.
Questions families ask
What does it cost?
Nothing. Algebra 1 is free from start to finish, with no card. A free parent account saves each student's progress.
What do we need at home?
A tape measure, graph paper, index cards, paper cups, string, a coat hanger, dried beans, a cardboard box, a clear jug, a rubber ball, colored cardboard and, for the rocket weeks, an empty plastic bottle, tubing and a bicycle pump, with a grown-up present for every launch.
Is this a full Algebra 1 course?
It covers the Common Core high-school standards usually taught in Algebra 1: number and quantity, seeing structure in expressions, polynomial arithmetic, creating equations, reasoning with equations and inequalities, interpreting and building functions, linear and exponential models, and interpreting two-variable data. It is not a credit-bearing or accredited course.
What should a student know first?
Integer exponents, one-variable linear equations, slope and y = mx + b, and systems by graphing, the content of Expressions and Equations Grades 6 to 8. The course reviews signs, powers and roots as it goes.
Which standards does it cover?
The Common Core high-school standards N-Q, N-RN, A-SSE, A-APR, A-CED, A-REI, F-IF, F-BF, F-LE and S-ID, listed week by week in the course.
More from Rocket & Raven
Coding, science, engineering, math and AI literacy from kindergarten through Grade 12. Every course is free.