| Online Resources for Teaching Fractions |
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by Karen Roberts
Acting Supervisor, Pre-k-12 Mathematics, Montgomery County Public Schools
Rockville, Maryland
Interactive Web experiences such as those that exist for algebra are not easy to find for fractions, although I think that will change soon given the current spotlight on teaching and learning fractions. Here are some ideas to use with online resources that are available.
This page lists resources posted in response to a question from a viewer of The Center's webcast, Beyond Slices of Pizza: Teaching Fractions Effectively.
Articles and Journals:
Clement, Lisa A. (2004). A model for understanding, using, and connecting representations. Teaching Children Mathematics, 11(2), 97-102.
If I were designing my own professional development lesson about fractions, I would look at this enhanced article.
http://www.nctm.org/profdev/content.aspx?id=11546
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Member Resources
The preceding article on representations would suggest ways that I could adapt other journal articles from the NCTM website, which contains article summaries. Article discussions and information from books (some with a video component) form the base of much of our county's professional development on this topic.
http://www.nctm.org/search.aspx?c=journals&q=teaching+fractions
Video and Web Resources:
TeacherTube
Some of the videos for fractions posted on TeacherTube could be used with groups to analyze whether the material is good to use. This type of discussion usually leads to very rich discussions about the math involved.
http://www.teachertube.com/index.php
Learning Math: Number and Operations (Annenberg Media series)
Part of the Annenberg series on number and operations, this video and Web-based course for teachers of Grades K-8 addresses much more than the content of fractions but is well worth the time-especially because the conceptual development of fractions relies on understanding whole numbers. When this series is being broadcast, it is without charge (and can be taped for future use).
http://www.learner.org/resources/series171.html
Teaching Math, Grades 3-5 online course (Annenberg Media series)
The Teaching Math video library also contains pertinent material, and the supporting resources are useful in facilitating discussion.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series189.html
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