What do Students need to Understand Before they can Make Sense of Equivalent Fractions?
When you are about to get started teaching equivalent fractions, it is well worth your time to ensure that your students have the necessary skills and concepts in place before they are asked to apply them. Click on the links in blue for more information:
Your students have to be able to identify when a fraction is written in simplest form. They may not yet have a clear comprehension of how to get a fraction into simplest form, but they can recognize when a fraction is in simplest form. There are many ways to think about simplest form, find out what works best for the students in your class.
Students should recognize 5 over one as a whole number written in fractional form. They should also be able to explain why all whole numbers have one for their denominator. This detailed level of understanding will make learning about equivalent fractions so much easier.
Make sure your students have the background knowledge needed to start learning about equivalent fractions. In this case, Vocabulary IS Content. Words like ‘same’ and ‘similar’ or ‘equal’ are used in everyday language as well as in math class. Students need to know that when they are used in math class, these words have very specific meanings. Review academic language that students will need in order to learn about equivalent fractions in advance of teaching the topic.
Equivalent fractions are created by multiplying the simplest form of a number by various fractions equivalent to one. Three-thirds times two will create a fraction equivalent to two with a denominator of three. This is a more advanced skill in terms of understanding fractions, however knowing that any number multiplied by one does not change is an important first step. Before you dive into teaching equivalent fractions, make sure your class can explain why dividing or multiplying by one doesn’t change a whole number.
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