Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Comparing Fractions, with Reason

Students in Mrs. Knox's classroom have been comparing fractions, decimals, and percents by reasoning about the relative size of their pieces. In this video - a follow-up to the previous day's lesson - students explain their conjectures about why 7/8 is larger than 5/6.

Grappling with Fractions from (Chris) on Vimeo.


In fact, they said their conjecture would work for any fraction that was 1/nth less than the whole! Students tested these conjectures by creating additional fractions to compare. In the process, students also began noticing equivalent fractions. It was exciting to hear students talk about their understandings! One of their next steps will be to master the mathematical language and clearly articulate their understandings and discoveries.

Are other 5th grade classrooms making similar conjectures? We'd love to hear about them here at TCSD Math!
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5 comments:

  1. Trish KnoxFebruary 10, 2011 at 9:11 AM

    So what happened with the 1/2 being the whole? You kind of left us hanging there;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 10, 2011 at 11:12 AM

    Hey - "Why don't you try that" is a perfect place to stop any lesson. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFebruary 10, 2011 at 11:26 AM

    Will be anxious to hear what they learn. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownFebruary 10, 2011 at 8:12 PM

    We did try that! But you cut it off there! The kids were all bummed when they saw that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownFebruary 11, 2011 at 5:21 AM

    I stopped it there so that other kids watching the video might go and try it.

    ReplyDelete

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