Summary and Synthesis

Fractions have been our math topic for a few class periods now. When I was learning about fractions as a young child I always did what the teacher showed us how to do. We were given a problem and had to follow the “right” steps that the teacher had taught us to find the solution. Never were we asking to explore or to find our own way of steps or processes of coming to the answer. I never knew that fractions were so complex. There are multiple ways of thinking about how to solve fractional problems. I can now see how the fractional education that I was taught, was very much limited in its approaches. For my classroom I can now see that there isn’t only one path to take to get an answer but multiple paths to take. By allowing my students to become independent and explore fractions on their own (to an extent) I will only be helping them get a greater understanding of why certain processes are done and how they are done. These last few classes have really opened my eyes to knowledge that is new to me. The limited approaches that my math teachers taught to me so long ago is not the way that I want to teacher my students.

New Insights & Implications

After discussing fractions the last couple of class sessions, the way I would go about teaching the students about fractions has changed quite a bit. I was taught how to work with fractions by using rules, such as multiplying by 2 to find an equivalent fraction, but there are different ways that let the students explore other possiblities without using these rules. I don't recall using manipulatives a whole lot when I was in elementary school, although I'm sure they were used at some point, so working with them in class was kind of a eye opening experience. Getting to work with them and actually seeing how you can use them to find common denominators really helps the student understand what they are doing. For instance, a red one (1/2) equals three green ones (3/6). It shows them visually what they are doing when they have to add or subtract fractions, which hopefully will lead to them being able to eventually solve the problems with little or no effort and have it come naturally.