Problem of the Week in Teaching 2 1

Problem of the Week in Teaching 2

Amy Hutton

National University

TED636 Methods: Mathematics-Science

Professor Amanda Bell

October 14, 2017

1) Solve 1 2/3 divided by 3/4= 2 2/9

2) What is the concept of this problem? and How do you teach this concept to your students
with conceptual understanding and why?

The concept that is being taught by the above problem is division of fractions, which is under the

numbers and operations-fraction portion of the California Common Core. This specific portion

of fractions is usually introduced in 5th grade. The California Department of Education (2013)

says in it’s California Common Core State Standards manual that in fifth grade students should

“apply and extend previous understanding of multiplication and vision to multiply and divide

fractions” (p. 35). It is important that before students are taught this concept they have a firm

grasp on both the multiplication and division concepts and also the fraction concepts that are first

taught in 3rd grade.

To teach division of fractions to my students, I first would want to review what fractions

are and also what division is. This would act as an introduction into the lesson, while bridging

what they know with the new concept that they are going to learn. With division, I would review

that there is two different forms of how to look at what division means; there is the measurement

form and the partitive form. The measurement form I am sure we are all familiar with and it is

how many times the given number goes into another number. The partitive form takes the num-

ber we are dividing and looks at what we are dividing it by. The number we are dividing it by is

a group, and we want to know how many numbers are in these groups. For example. If we want

to divide 20 by 5. In the partitive form we want to know if there are 5 equal groups of 20 num-

bers how many numbers are in each group (Multiplication, measurement division, and partitive
Problem of the Week in Teaching 2 3

division problems, n.d.). Keeping these two different division forms in mind, it will help when

doing it with fractions.

I would also want to go over the concept of area, I think this is an important concept

(that they first learned in third grade) that could be helpful in understand fractions and also the

division of fractions. The area can be broken into units that we can see when we are visually

modeling the division of fractions. I will explain shortly how the area will help with this, as I

give real life examples.

To make this lesson conceptual, I will need to make it apply to something that the stu-

dents can connect to in real life. One example that is easy to show the students and can help

them relate is a baking pan full of brownies. I would show them the first problem with actual

brownies and once the lesson is done, they each get one (as long as there aren’t any allergies).

Once I did the first problem with real brownies I would work on the projector with graph paper

and we would pretend that the rectangles we create for each problem is the brownie pan. So in

this brownie example, the baking pan is one whole, but then if we want to figure out the fractions

we can break the brownies into equal parts. We can do this by cutting lines parallel to each other

leaving equal sections of the brownie. If we have another fraction that we want to look at in

comparison to the first fraction (either through multiplication or division) we can see how it cor-

responds to the other by cutting the brownie into equal parts going the other direction. This

would help us to figure out the area units of each fraction as they correlate to each other. So for

example if we wanted to cut the brownies in fourths, we would make 3 cuts going the same di-

rection, breaking it into 4 equal parts. Then one of these parts would be 1/4, 2 would be 2/4, and

so on. Then if we wanted to see how the parts would be if compared to another fraction we
Problem of the Week in Teaching 2 4

could cut the brownie in the other direction. For example if we want to look at the brownie in

thirds then we would cut it into 3 equal portions going the other direction. This is where the unit

area comes into play. With this example the whole brownie is now broken into 12 equal parts.

So then depending what the fraction of the whole is, we can see how many area units make up

the fraction. With division we want to figure out how many times one part goes into the big part.

For the example that I am using the real brownies, I would use (the above problem), 1 2/3

divided by 3/4. I would create real life scenario that would go with it. Ms. Hutton had 1 and 2/3

brownies, since she ate 1/3 of a pan of brownies all by herself. She brought the rest to class and

wanted to share 3/4 of what was left with the groups of students trying there hardest. How many

groups will she be able to share it with. So, I would start out with two pans of brownies because

one who pan is already used for the whole part of the fraction. I would cut both pans into thirds

and then into fourths, which would make 12 equal units in each brownie pan. I would show the

students how 3/4 is 9 units. Then I would show them 1 and 2/3 (12 units in the first pan and 8 in

the second). Then we would figure out how many times the 9 units, representing 3/4 went into

the 20 units representing the 1 2/3. They could see that it went in 2 times and then 2 if the units

were left. Since we were looking at how many times 9 go in the whole amount the remaining 2

would be over 9.

Once the class was able to see the example in real life, I would put the brownies away for

later, but show them how we could use graphing paper with cubes to pretend we had brownies or

any other object that needs to be looked at as a fraction and divided. I would work through a

couple more examples on the overhead projector. As I worked through the problems I would

show them how to do the model. Once I completed the model for each problem I would show
Problem of the Week in Teaching 2 5

them the algorithm of flip and multiply. I would request that they would only use this to double

check the solutions they found with their models.

I would then have the class work on additional fraction division problems within their

groups. I would give each group different problems; 3 each. They would have to come up with

real life scenarios that could be explained through a word problem for each of the problems giv-

en to them. Once they were done they would have to give there word problem/scenario to the

class. The other students in the class, would try to figure out the answer. At the end of the pre-

sentation the group would show how the came up to the solution with their models.

To conclude the lesson, I would want each to create a fraction division problem from

scratch, that would include a real life scenario word problem, the fraction written in numbers and

then mapped or modeled for me to see the answer. I would check the work for accuracy and then

share their work with each other. During this lesson, I am open to sharing models that differ

from one I should them as long as the answer comes out the same. Finding additional ways to

model a fraction could be a way to modify the lesson for the more advance students. I could also

modify the lesson for my ELL students, lower-achieving students, and some disabled students,

by providing them with more hands on tools, like cubes, where instead of just drawing they can

actually touch feel and manipulate the fractions.

It is always important that when teaching math that we try do so with the mathematical

practices in mind and that we try to install these practices with our students. To recall these

Mathematical Practices (or MP) are:

“1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, 2. Reason abstractly and
quantitatively, 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, 4.
Model with mathematics, 5. Use appropriate tools strategically, 6. Attend to precision, 7.
Problem of the Week in Teaching 2 6

Look for and make use of structure, 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated rea-
soning (California Department of Education, 2013, p. 19).
The introduction and modeling portion of the lesson, helps to make sense of the problem so it

starts to fulfill MP.1. When the groups are working on their own set of problems the completely

fulfill MP.1 by persevering to solve the problem. During the group activity and presentation por-

tion of this lesson the students are also fulfilling MP2, MP3 (when they are presenting their

models to the class), MP4, MP5, MP6, MP7, and MP8. They really hit all these principals as

they work through the problems, do so in a strategic way, and then show the class how they go to

the right answer. During the presentation portion of the lesson, the rest of the class is having to

solve these fraction division problems, before the solution is presented so they would also be ex-

hibiting their own mathematical principles in working to find the solutions. The final task where

I have the students come up with an entire fraction division problem on their own and present it

would also show that they not only do they understand the concept but that they can exhibit

proper Mathematical Principles in solving it.

References:

California Department of Education. (2013). California Common Core State Standards:

Mathematics (Electronic Edition). Sacramento, CA: CDE Press. Retrieved on October

13, 2017 from https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/ccssmathstandardaug2013.

PDF.

Multiplication, measurement division, and partitive division problems (n.d.). Retrieved on

October 14, 2017 from http://www.math.niu.edu/courses/math402/packet/packet-4.pdf.