Course Guide - USAID Teacher Education Project

Unitt 1 Number and OperationsWeek 5, Session 1: Introduction to Integers16. Maths Concepts to be studied• Integers, like fractions, are another type of number in our number system. Thefollowing PowerPoint presentation is a short introduction to integers’ place inour number system and the integer number line model that can be used to thinkabout it: http://tinyurl.com/Integers-Num-Line-PPT• Models for Integers:• The number line: Up to this point students have worked with number linesthat began at 0 and went on indefinitely in a positive direction. They alsocreated and labeled fraction strips to show numbers on the number linebetween whole numbers (especially those between 0 and 1). Now studentswill extend the number line beyond zero in order to deal with negativeintegers.• We can also think of a vertical number line• Notice that simply by introducing the integer number line, notation forthe negative sign also has been introduced. Although published materialsrarely make this distinction, it is helpful when writing on the board orcreating worksheets to use a short dash (-) or a superscript dash ( — ) infront of the number to indicate the “negative” sign, and a longer dash (—) to signify the operation of subtraction such as in the expression 2 — (-3).