https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy en-us 2017-02-09 22:17:30 UTC 2026-01-26 13:13:56 UTC hello@padlet.com babel5 https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152937192 An activity that i have used to help the students understand this idea was to have them work on an ipad where they worked with an app that provided them with fraction bars. I then presented them with a addition problem of two fractions with different denominators. I had them try and manipulate the fraction bars so that they could add them together. ]]> 2017-02-09 22:20:01 UTC https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152937192 babel5 https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152937514 Provide the students with real life situations of taking part of a whole.  Part of this could consist of having a pizza and then eating a certain amount.  It would be up to the students to represent what part of the pizza was eaten(or left depending on the question) and what they originally had.  Once they have a fraction written down, they need to explain the number they have for both their numerator and denominator.

The link below gives examples and video clips that can help students understand the meaning of the numerators and denominators. It is a little juvenile for middle school, bu could still be something fun for the younger grades. I would work on this after giving students a chance to explore their thoughts for the activity I mentioned above on their own.
http://dptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/vtl07.math.num.frac.lpdenom/learning-to-distinguish-numerators-and-denominators/ ]]> 2017-02-09 22:22:13 UTC https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152937514 babel5 https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152939716 With the background knowledge of equivalent fractions, students would be presented with a picture of fractions where they were given more than one whole. I would tell them that there are two ways that you could write what the picture represents as a fraction. Students will hopefully write one as an improper fraction and the other as a mixed number. The next part of this activity would be for the students to try and explain the relationship between the two different representations they wrote down. I think that many students, when just taught how to convert to either mixed numbers or improper fractions, do not understand that they are working with the same amount for both of them. Providing them with a visual will help them realize that the same thing can be represented in different ways.]]> 2017-02-09 22:36:52 UTC https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152939716 babel5 https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152941589 As we have been discussing thus far in this course, it is important for students to understand why they are doing thing when it comes to math.  It is important for the students to understand and make sense of what they are doing in order to solve a problem.  With that being said, when teaching division, we can not simple rely on telling the students to simple flip and them multiply.  Yes, this is an "easy" thing to teach the students, but they rarely have any understanding of why they are doing that.  If anything they are more confused about how you can change a division problem to a multiplication problem and get the same answer. I like to start my dividing fractions lesson by having the students explore using fractions bars.  I then give them time later, to try and come up with their own algorithm that could work for solving division problems with fractions. It is always interesting to see what they come up with for their own algorithm. They are also reminded that their algorithm has to work for every division problem. This is where they start to have problems, but it's also where they are coming up with great conjectures and really thinking about things.]]> 2017-02-09 22:51:08 UTC https://padlet.com/babel5/koesxtaw1fdy/wish/152941589