Fractions Concepts
Recommended Practice: Build basic fraction concepts from students’ informal understandings of sharing and proportion.
- Overview & Tools: Video overviews and professional development materials
- Learn What Works: Expert interviews about fractions concepts
- See How It Works: Videos and sample materials from schools
The Conceptual Basis for Fractions
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > Overview & Tools
This multimedia overview introduces how children’s intuitive understandings of sharing and proportion can serve as a foundation on which to build formal instruction of fraction concepts. This...
Resource Type
Overview
Building on Intuitive Understanding
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > Learn What Works
Dr. Thomas P. Carpenter discusses the importance of building children’s conceptual understanding of fractions based on intuitive ideas about sharing and apportioning objects. He demonstrates...
Resource Type
Expert Interview
Equal Sharing in Grade 1
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > See How It Works
Watch a teacher guide students through a problem set requiring fair sharing of objects and sets of objects. Using Sharing Cookies Worksheets, she provides differentiated challenges based on...
Resource Type
School Example
Teaching Fractions in Grade 2
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > See How It Works
Watch a second-grade teacher describe a review lesson designed to check understanding of fractions, decimals, and percents. This classroom presentation was shown in the topic National Mathematics...
Resource Type
School Example
Representations of Part-Whole Relationships
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > See How It Works
Listen to how a math coach works with second graders on fair sharing and fraction equivalence challenges. The lesson culminates with students exploring parts of a whole and equivalencies,...
Resource Type
School Example
Same Parts, Different Whole: Lesson Plan and Worksheet
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > See How It Works
A fourth-grade teacher’s lesson on finding fractional parts of rectangular arrays and a group of objects requires students to compare the same fractional parts of different-size wholes. Related...
Resource Type
Sample Material
Sharing Cookies Worksheet
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > See How It Works
As seen in Equal Sharing in Grade 1, a teacher uses the progressively more difficult sharing challenges on this worksheet to differentiate instruction. Related Files: Equal Sharing in Grade 1...
Resource Type
Sample Material
Fractions With Cuisinaire Rods
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > See How It Works
Students use the worksheet to record their explorations of equivalent fractions using Cuisenaire Rods. Their work is shown in Representations of Part-Whole Relationships. Related Media and...
Resource Type
Sample Material
Learning Together About Building on Informal Understandings of Fractions
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > Overview & Tools
Math coaches and specialists can use this professional development sequence to help primary grade teachers learn about the importance of working with even very young children on informal fraction...
Resource Type
Tool
Discussion Prompts: Initial Fraction Concepts
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > Overview & Tools
Teachers can use these prompts to help children extend their thinking during informal encounters with fractions. The question and strategy prompts remind teachers how they can take advantage of...
Resource Type
Tool
Creating Story Problems: Initial Fraction Concepts
Fractions > Fractions Concepts > Overview & Tools
Use this planning tool to create problems that build on children’s informal understanding of fractions. The planner outlines the components necessary to construct a progression of...
Resource Type
Tool
