Fraction Attraction

by James Lee Anderson

Topic: Understanding fractions as the relationshp between "the whole" and "the parts" that make up the whole.

Type of Web activity:
Concept developement through interactive manipulation of fractions represented by geometric figures.

Materials / Software needed:
Computer with internet access, Internet explorer 4 or higher, Netscape3 or higher, with Java enabled.

Audience:
Student: grade 5 and higher, student may need assistance with written form instructions.

Teacher: See above. This activity is good for special education instruction, visual component to learning.

Grade Level:
Instructional level for grades 3 and higher

Time involved:
Depending on activity, 15 mintutes to multiple days.

Created on:
8/11/00

The Web Science Workshop lessons were created in cooperation with the Exploratorium Teacher Institute .

This site developed and maintained by Deborah Hunt and Eric Muller .

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San Francisco, CA 94123

Sharing is not always easy, and many children have to be taught to share. They want to keep everything for themselves. You know the types, don't you? Well, many kids don't like fractions! Why? Because fractions are all about sharing. Dividing things up between people is just like working with fraction. You have to practice it to get comfortable with it. Then, it's easy.

courtesy of http://www.donskitchen.com/clipart.htm

The pizza to the left is uneaten. It is a WHOLE pizza. This is a difficult concept for adolescents to understand. It has not yet been cut into equal parts and eaten. If this were cut in to four equal PARTS we would call them "forths". A fraction is the relationship of the parts to the whole ( one of the two cookies is chocolate, or 1/2). The first number or top number in a fraction is called the numerator, and the bottom, or second number, is the denominator. Visit Lanius Fraction Shapes for fun with fraction shapes.

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