Grade 7 Students Tackle Algebra Problem From Film ‘Hidden Figures’ and Learn the Story Behind It

Mrs. Windes introduced the story behind the film to her grade 7 students, then shared a screenshot of the math problem on the chalkboard with a three-word assignment: Let’s solve it!
Grade 7 algebra students had a unique, relevant learning opportunity during Black History Month, as they learned the story behind the blockbuster film Hidden Figures, then solved a math problem prominently featured in the movie.
 
Hidden Figures is based on the true story about Black female mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who worked in NASA and were instrumental to the Space Race of the 1960s. During a flashback scene with one of the protagonists while she was a young girl in school, an algebra problem was on the chalkboard that her teacher asked her to solve.
 
Mrs. Windes introduced the story behind the film to her grade 7 students, then shared a screenshot of the math problem on the chalkboard with a three-word assignment: Let’s solve it!
 
The problem was relevant to the current unit the algebra 1 students were studying: solving quadratics equations by factoring and using the zero product properly.
 
“The class took on the challenge and they were able to solve it before I played the video clip in which the young lady not only solves it perfectly, but also explains the zero product property that we have been learning in class,” Mrs. Windes said.
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