Algebra - Find a Rule (Two Step) - Worksheet

The "Find a Rule – Two Step" worksheet is an educational resource from masterthecurriculum.co.uk designed to enhance students' understanding of algebraic functions and linear number sequences. The National Curriculum objective for this lesson is for students to use simple formulae, generate and describe linear number sequences, and express missing number problems algebraically. To achieve these objectives, resources such as differentiated sheets and teaching slides are provided, and key vocabulary terms like "two-step function," "input," "output," "strategy," "pattern," and "values" are introduced.

Students begin by extending their knowledge from one-step to two-step function machines, exploring whether operations like adding 5 and then 6 can be combined into a single step. They are encouraged to use strategies like trial and improvement or examining patterns of differences to uncover the functions. This is practiced by recording input and output values in tables. The worksheet poses key questions to challenge students' understanding, such as how to simplify combined operations into a single function and the impact of changing the order of functions. The activities are tiered to cater to different levels of proficiency, with some students finding one missing part of the function machine using simple numbers, while others tackle more complex calculations with two missing parts or complete the entire two-step function machine independently.