In this paper, we explore how students' algebraic noticing's and explanations changed across a two-year period with the introduction of designed instructional material. The data in this report is drawn from n=53 Year 7-8 students' responses to a free-response assessment task across two different years. Analysis focused on how students noticed and explained algebraic relationships in pairs of equivalent equations. Findings indicate that with the introduction of designed instructional material, there was a shift in student noticing of number properties to identify equivalence between pairs of equations. However, identifying the distributive property of multiplication and developing generalisations about the algebraic relationships remained challenging for students.