Teaching the Chip Counter Method

After my PLP last week, I feel like I have a better handle on using the chip model to add and subtract integers.  Now that I understand it better, I wanted to learn more about how to teach it to my students.  I felt that using a real-life example would help them to conceptualize the use of the chips more easily.  

I found a video from The Teaching Channel that I thought was really helpful.  The video aligned with the Common Core state standards: MATH.7.NS.A.1C and MATH.7.NS.A.1D.  In it, the teacher uses the integer chips to represent hot and cold, and the students work on changing the temperature of soup.  The children decided that the red chips would represent “hot” or positive 1 and the yellow chips would be “cold” or negative 1.  After a brief group lesson, the teacher then has the children work in pairs to complete a worksheet.  She notes that pairs work better than larger groups because the children are more likely to take on an equal amount of the work and help each other understand the process.  By the end of the lesson, the children realize that subtracting a negative is the same as adding a positive, which is typically a very difficult concept to understand.  However, through the use of the chips and having a visual representation, they can understand that without just memorizing “keep-change-change.”