Mathematics

Intermediate

50 mins

Teacher/Student led

Learning Goals

Learning Outcomes

Lesson Files

+80 XP

What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Order of Operations: Brackets, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction

Learn the order of operations rule (BIDMAS): Brackets, Indices, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction. Discover why doing calculations in the correct order matters and how it changes your answer.

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Work It Step by Step in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Here is a calculation with two operations in it: 4 + 3 × 2. Work it out in your head. What answer did you get?

Hands up if you got 14. Hands up if you got 10. We have two different answers to the very same calculation. By the end of today you will know which one is right, and why mathematicians had to make a rule so this never confuses anybody.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

Look at each calculation. Notice which operation is worked first, and see how that decides the answer.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~11 mins

Today we work through this together on the board: (8 − 3) × 4 + 6. It has brackets, so before we tap anything we'll say out loud which part the rule makes us do first. Then we will talk through 20 − 2 × (3 + 4) the same way.

Work through in order

+15 XP

4 - Work It Step by Step in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, work each calculation step by step in the correct order, one line at a time. Circle the operation you do first on each line, so you can check your reasoning at the end. Work these three:

6 + 4 × 3
(10 − 2) ÷ 4
12 − 3 × 2 + 5

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Today we work through these together, each one a step harder: 6 + 5 × 2, then (9 − 4) × 3 + 7, then 30 − 3 × (2 + 5), then 8 + 4 × 3 − 12 ÷ 6. Work each one out in BIDMAS order, then check the final answer.

Evaluate in the correct order

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 2 · Operations and Computational Fluency Number

Lesson 29 · Order of Operations: Brackets, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

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