Connecting to Develop Computational Fluency with Fractions

Author:
Nancy K. Mack Teaches mathematics education courses at Grand Valley State Universityin Allendale, Michigan.

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Volume/Issue:
Volume 11: Issue 4
Page(s):
226–232
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5951/TCM.11.4.0226
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“In fractions, we have one hundred different kinds of rules for solving one hundred different kinds of problems,” declared 11- year-old Benny after solving a variety of problems involving fractions (Erlwanger 1973, p. 10). Do your students share Benny's frustration when they add and subtract fractions? Do they think one procedure is required for solving a problem such as 3/8 + 2/8 and a different procedure is required for a problem such as 1/2 + 1/3? Do they view these procedures as being unrelated to each other? Many of my students have held these views. Consequently, they struggled to become computationally fluent with fractions.

Footnotes

Nancy Mack is interested in the teaching and learning of fractions.

Contributor Notes

mackn@gvsu.edu
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Teaching Children Mathematics
Cover Teaching Children Mathematics
Copyright:
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. All rights reserved. 2004
Page Count:
7
Article Category:
Research Article
Print Publication Date:
01 Nov 2004
Online Publication Date:
Nov 2004
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