Objectives of Fraction Professional Development:

• Students will increase their conceptual understanding of fractions.

• Teachers will improve their content and pedagogical knowledge related to effectively and meaningfully teaching fractions.

• Teachers will increase their confidence level about teaching fractions.

Best Practices for Teaching and Learning Fraction Concepts

Our Sample Population

Six Schools:Battle Grove Elementary SchoolEdmondson Heights Elementary SchoolFeatherbed Lane Elementary SchoolNorwood Elementary SchoolPleasant Plains Elementary SchoolSeventh District Elementary School

Number of Individuals Impacted by P. D.

Teachers Students

38 195

Let’s Look at Teacher Data . . .

Teacher Perception Survey

Pre-test Average Rating 1.69 out of 3

Post-test Average Rating 2.98 out of 3

Teacher Data

Teacher Content Knowledge

Pre-test Average 59.7%

Post-test Average 65.3%

Improvement 5.6%

Scoring Rubric

3 2 1 0

Response demonstrates deep understanding of

fractions

Response demonstrates

somewhat of a deeper understanding of

fractions

Response demonstrates little or rote understanding of

fractions

No response or response demonstrates

complete lack of understanding of

fractions

A

B

C

D

E

F

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Average Test Scores by School

Post-TestPre-Test

Average Score

Scho

olLet’s Look at Student Data . . .

Let’s Look at Student Data . . .

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 150

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Analysis by Test Item

Pre-TestPost-Test

Test Item Number

Aver

age

Scor

e

What Do the Data Mean?

0.

A Closer Look at Individual Items

7.

Estimate the sum: 12

13 +

7

8

a. 1

b. 2

c. 19

d. 21

Using Benchmarks to Estimate

5.

Plot a point to show about where 2

3 +

1

6 would be on this number line.

Explain your reasoning.

0 1 2

Appropriate Use of Mathematical Tools

14.

Name a fraction between:

0 and 1

1

4 and

1

2

5

6 and 1

Visualizing Fractions

11.

Three pizzas are shared equally among five girls. How much pizza does each girl get? How do you know?

Fair Shares

8.

Write or draw about 3

4 in as many ways as you can.

Multiple Representations

“Sure, Suzie, I’ll share my last cookie with you, but I

want the bigger half.”

Look at the circle below to answer questions 9 and 10.

9.

What fraction of the circle is labeled “B”? How do you know?

10.

What fraction of the circle is labeled “D”? How do you know?

A B

C D

E

Unequal Partitions

5

9

9

15

2

3

1

2

5

8

1

8

I would like to order a

small cheese pizza, please.

No problem, sir. That will be one small cheese pizza cut into eight

slices.

Oh no, please just cut it into four slices. I could never

eat eight slices!

We Still Have Work to Do!