fractions don’t need to be fatal
Post on 06-Jan-2016
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Fractions Don’t Need to be Fatal
Session Goals
Participants will understand:•Why the Focus on Fractions?•What are ‘fractions’?•Intro to KNAER (grounded in research and in classrooms) •Classroom dynamics
Ordering Coffee
½ Cream
¼ Sugar
¼ Coffee
Fractions Can Be Fatal…pediatricians, nurses, and pharmacists… were
tested for errors resulting from the calculation of drug doses for neonatal intensive care infants…
Of the calculation errors identified, 38.5% of pediatricians' errors, 56% of nurses' errors, and 1% of pharmacists' errors would have resulted
in administration of 10 times the prescribed dose. (Grillo, Latif, & Stolte, 2001, p.168)
(Bruce & Ross, 2009)
What the Research Says…
The mathematics education literature is resounding in its findings that understanding
fractions is a challenging area of mathematics for North American students to grasp (National Assessment of Educational
Progress, 2005). Students also seem to have difficulty retaining fractions concepts
(Groff, 1996). (Bruce & Ross, 2009)
Implications beyond Childhood
Adults continue to struggle with fractions concepts (Lipkus, Samsa, & Rimer, 2001;
Reyna & Brainerd, 2007) even when fractions are important to daily work related
tasks.
(Bruce & Ross, 2009)
Why a Focus on Fractions?
• Fractions are a difficult to learn concept because they require deep conceptual knowledge of
– part-whole – measurement – ratios
• the College Math Project identified fractions as an area requiring further attention
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What fraction would you use to represent this?
Math For Teaching: Fractions
Why use multiple models?
• Pictures• Written Symbols• Oral Language• Real World
Connections• Manipulative
Models
Children who have difficulty translating a concept from one representation to another are the same children who have difficulty solving problems and understanding computations. Strengthening the ability to move between and among these representations improves the growth of children’s concepts.
Why Focus on Content Knowledge?
“Teachers must understand their subjects deeply and flexibly, and skillfully represent them in intellectually honest ways to a wide
range of students.”
Deborah Lowenberg Ball and Francesca M. Forzan
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How can you name this?6 green:4 yellow
Part-Part (set)
6 green:10 shapesPart-Whole (set)
One fifth of the total area is green
Part-Whole (area)
Math Knowledge for TeachingMark Hoover Thames and Deborah Lowenberg Ball
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CCK – knowing if an answer is correct, knowledge of definitions and procedures
PCK – knowing the most useful ways of
representing and formulating the
subject in order to make it
comprehensible to others
SCK – knowing more math than CCK but distinct from PCK
Horizon Knowledge – ‘mathematical peripheral vision’
Some Background• Funded by Knowledge Networks for
Applied Educational Research (KNAER)• Collaborative Action Research Project
involving:– Teachers and administrators from KPRDSB,
OCDSB, SCDSB– Laurie Moher, Suhana Kadoura, Trish Steele– Dr. Cathy Bruce, Tara Flynn and Rich
McPherson of Trent University
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What did it look like in practice?
The teams•explored student and teacher fraction understanding •co-planned, co-implemented, and observed lessons•analysed student responses•sustained a focus on fractions
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One Task
Which way would you cut the cake so that you could share it with a friend fairly. Explain.
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Let’s talk about it
• Share your thinking.• Let’s hear what the students did.
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Fractions Can be Fun!
• We learned that:– fractions ARE complex– learning is struggle, and sense-making is both
challenging and rewarding– learning together alongside colleagues and
students is energizing– thinking about thinking results in
understandings that extend beyond fractions
For you in the near future…
• a Digital Paper on EduGAINS.ca entitled Professional Learning about Fractions
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