This document includes instructional tips on: (1) Building on students' informal understanding of sharing and proportionality to develop initial fraction concepts; (2) Helping students recognize that fractions are numbers that expand the number system beyond whole numbers, and using number lines to teach this and other fraction concepts; (3)…

This research examined the role of the teacher in supporting students to make sense of fraction multiplication when using a problem solving approach. Using a qualitative approach, the teaching of four skillful experienced sixth-grade teachers was examined as they implemented a problem-based unit on fraction multiplication. This paper will present…

This paper will focus on two students who depended on diagrammatic representations in both a Fraction Screening Test and in a subsequent Structured Interview. One student attempted to use diagrams, with limited success, to identify the correct relationships, and consequently struggled to generalise her strategies as she responded to the questions…

This study examined discussions centered on precise mathematical language use in two fifth grade classrooms. Drawing on episodes from lessons in which teachers focused on encouraging mathematics reasoning, our analysis examines the relationship between precise language use and mathematical justifying. We present three classroom episodes that…