There are certainly benefits to exposing students to appropriate grade level content. They are built on a Content Coverage model of instruction, in which a teacher moves students through uniform content, at a uniform pace. So assuming you appreciate the importance of teaching the concepts behind fraction division, the next question is ‘ how.’Īfter all, most textbooks are not designed to build conceptual understanding. Teaching Fraction Division with the 3 Vehicles Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities Fraction Foundations Visual Models and Digital Manipulatives | Interactive Google Slides $3.00 Add to cart They may support one or two stories, but sooner or later, the whole thing comes crashing down. But such structures aren’t built to last. It doesn’t require much of a foundation, and we may feel like we can progress quickly from one level to the next. Relying on tricks is more like building a house of cards. Each level must be solid, so it can support all the levels that will eventually be built on top of it. If you want to build a skyscraper, you start by digging deep and pouring a strong foundation of concrete. This includes applying their understanding outside of the classroom, or to increasingly complex ideas they encounter in future grades.Ĭonstructing conceptual understanding is like erecting a building. Isolated bits of knowledge are plucked and discarded like weeds, while information that forms a connected web of understanding is deemed important, and thus preserved.Ĭonceptual understanding is also critical for application, or students’ ability to use what they learn in novel situations. So How does the brain decide what matters? By looking at connections. So t he brain acts as an efficient gardener, weeding out unimportant memories, so we can make use of the important ones. But if we remembered everything, our brain would quickly become so cluttered that we couldn’t think. We often think of ‘remembering’ as good, and ‘forgetting’ as bad. When students learn math solely through memorization and procedures, many of these benefits are lost.Ĭonceptual approaches to math have been shown to increase retention, or students’ ability to remember what they’ve learned. Research on learning and the brain has identified numerous benefits associated with conceptual understanding in math. Looking for resources to help your students develop their fraction foundations? Download your FREE Hands-On Fraction QuickStart Guide Why Focus on Conceptual Approaches to Fraction Division? It’s no wonder that so many of us simply teach our students to ‘keep, change, and flip.’ There’s even a cute rhyme about the ennui of teaching fraction division: it’s no use to wonder why, just invert and multiply.īut while these tricks may seem to make our lives easier in the short run, they create hidden problems for us and for our students. And as tough as this topic can be for our students, teaching fraction division can be even more challenging for teachers. Few topics in arithmetic are as challenging as dividing fractions.
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