Click here to load reader
Upload
gary-randall
View
215
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Problem Analysis Things “click” for students when they can relate what they are learning to everyday activities. Fractions are hard to visualize. Students struggle with wrapping their brains around a problem involving fractions because they can’t associate it with something familiar. Student performance demonstrated that when solving problems involving equivalent fractions, students were able to compute correct answers only 50% of the time.
Citation preview
Fraction Frustration
Problem Solving ProjectCarolyn Curran
Problem
• Students who do not master fractions are unable to progress at an age-appropriate level through mathematics curriculum.
Problem Analysis
• Things “click” for students when they can relate what they are learning to everyday activities. Fractions are hard to visualize. Students struggle with wrapping their brains around a problem involving fractions because they can’t associate it with something familiar.
• Student performance demonstrated that when solving problems involving equivalent fractions, students were able to compute correct answers only 50% of the time.
Plan Development and Implementation
• Manipulatives and visual models were used to demonstrate solutions through guided practice using 3 phases:
• I DO• WE DO• YOU DO
• The Graph Paper Fractions Book, otherwise known as Fractions Cake Book by Herb Clemens was the curriculum used.
Phase 1 – I DO• Teacher demonstrates the skill
Example problem:• Suppose there are 4 people sitting around the dinner table. Everybody has
ate their veggies and now it’s time for dessert. We’re having cake and everybody likes cake a lot. Nobody is feeling generous and so we have to give each person exactly the same amount.
Here is our cake. It
has 12 pieces. Each person can have 3
pieces.
This is how much cake each person gets. Nobody is jealous
because everyone get the same amount.
We that the part of the cake each person gets is one-fourth of the cake.
One-fourth is how much of the cake each person gets
when there are four people at the table.
So here is a picture that
says the same thing.
Instead of always writing “One-fourth of the cake”, we
can make things easier by using
numbers
14
Another way of saying this is that each person got 3 of the 12 pieces
or 3 . 12
Phase 2 – WE DO
• Teacher guides students through skills using oral responses, manipulatives, and board work– Example problem• Let’s make a whole page of one-fourths
You draw some cakes that work when there are four people at the table.
Phase 3 – YOU DO• The learner is asked to show that they know how to perform
the task– Example problem:
– It is another day in another house, but someone has been baking again. Today though, there are three people at the table. Which of these cakes can we serve in this house today? Remember, we want to give each person at the table the same number of pieces and we don’t want to have any cake left over. Also, these cakes are already cut into nice square pieces for us. We can’t cut the pieces up any more.
Data Collected
Student A
Student B
Student C
Student D
Student E
Student F
Student G
Student H
Student I
Student J
Student K
Student L
Student M
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2/19/2013 - PreTest2/26/2013- Assessment 13/5/2013 - Assessment 23/12/2013 - Assessment 33/19/13 - Post Test
Plan Evaluation
• Data Analysis– Pretest class average : 50%– Post test class average : 90%– 100% of students improved their scores– Biggest class gain was between the pretest and
assessment 1– Student M made the most progress between pre
and post test – 70% increase
Plan Evaluation
• Intervention Effectiveness– The desired outcome was met:
• Student are able to identify equivalent fractions using fraction pictures, manipulatives, and basic math problems with at least 85% accuracy in two out of three probes.
- Conclusion- Using manipulatives and visual models better
demonstrates solutions to problems involving fractions than just presenting a rule and repetitiously practicing.