This popular text addresses the urgent need for curriculum materials that cross traditional boundaries to include many of the elements that are integrated in the teaching/learning enterprise: mathematics content, teacher understanding, student thinking, teaching methods, instructional activities, and assessment. The book pushes readers beyond the limits of their current understanding of rational numbers, challenging them to refine and explain their thinking--without falling back on rules and procedures they have relied on throughout their lives. Written in a conversational and easy to understand style, this is not a textbook as much as it is a resource book. An underlying assumption is that facilitating teacher understanding using the same questions and activities that may be used with children is one way to help teachers build the comfort and confidence they need to begin talking to children about complex ideas. Unlike a textbook that is used to study formal theory and then discarded when it comes to putting ideas into practice, the many problems and activities included to facilitate teacher learning are valuable resources for use in elementary and middle school classrooms. Changes in the second edition include: *even more student work incorporated in every chapter; *discussion of the connectivity between the topics addressed in the book and the elementary and middle school mathematics curricula; *an increased emphasis on measurement; *expansion of some topics, including number sense, percent, scale factors, similarity, and linear graphs; *clarification of the characteristics of ratio and proportions and how to use these to generate discussion with children; and *content-related interview questions for exploring children's thinking. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and curriculum developers in mathematics education, pre-service and in-service teachers of mathematics, those involved in the mathematical and pedagogical preparation of mathematics teachers, and graduate students in mathematics education. The methods and activities it includes have been tested with students in grades 3-8 and with pre-service and in-service teachers and other adults. This text is accompanied by MORE--a supplement that is not merely an answer key but a resource that includes in-depth discussions of all the problems in the text; develops and extends discussion of the issues, teaching problems, and other considerations raised in the chapters; and contains additional problems--with and without solutions--that instructors may find helpful for assessment purposes.

More is not an answer key but a resource that provides the scaffolding for the groundbreaking approach to fraction and ratio instruction presented in its companion text, Teaching Fractions and Ratios. Keeping the focus on the reasoning needed to properly understand and teach rational numbers, More shows teachers how to engage in powerful ways of thinking so that they can, in turn, enhance the mathematical education of their students. Like its companion text, More has been heavily expanded and reorganized, including even more student work, templates for key manipulatives, and an emphasis on applications to everyday life. Based on the content chapters in Teaching Fractions and Ratios, each chapter includes: In-depth Discussions of selected problems and their solutions. Supplementary Activities and a collection of challenging problems involving fractions. Praxis Preparation Questions geared to the content of each chapter.

"A series for teaching mathematics."--P. [1] of cover.

Do your students suppose that 1/3 is greater than 1/2, since 3 is greater than 2? Do they believe that having “halves” means having two, and only two, congruent “pieces” of a whole? What tasks can you offer—what questions can you ask—to determine what your students know or don’t know—and move them forward in their thinking? This book focuses on the specialised pedagogical content knowledge that you need to teach fractions effectively in grades 3–5. The authors demonstrate how to use this multifaceted knowledge to address the big ideas and essential understandings that students must develop for success with fractions—not only in their current work, but also in higher-level mathematics and a myriad of real-world contexts. Explore rich, research-based strategies and tasks that show how students are reasoning about and making sense of fractions. Use the opportunities that these and similar tasks provide to build on their understanding while identifying and correcting misunderstandings that may be keeping them from taking the next steps in learning.

A Focus on Fractions is a groundbreaking effort to make the mathematics education research on how students develop their understanding of fraction concepts readily accessible and understandable to pre- and in-service K– 8 mathematics educators. Using extensive annotated samples of student work, as well as vignettes characteristic of classroom teachers’ experiences, this book equips educators with the knowledge and tools to reveal students’ thinking so that they can modify their teaching and improve student learning of fraction concepts. A Focus on Fractions 2nd edition includes sections on the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) Fraction Framework integrated into each chapter as well as a new chapter on the OGAP Fraction Progression and how it can be used for formative assessment purposes. This updated edition assists teachers in translating research findings into their classroom practice by conveying detailed information about how students develop fraction understandings. Additional images and examples serve to flesh out and supplement the newly-introduced concepts in this updated and expanded edition. Special Features: Looking Back Questions at the end of each chapter provide teachers the opportunity to analyze student thinking and consider instructional strategies for their own students. Instructional Links help teachers relate concepts from the chapter to their own instructional materials and programs. Big Ideas frame the chapters and provide a platform for meaningful exploration of the teaching of fractions. Answer Key posted online offers extensive explanations of in-chapter questions. New sections devoted to the CCSSM and OGAP Fraction Progression are woven throughout the book as well as a new stand alone chapter on the OGAP Fraction Progression. The OGAP Fraction Framework is an all-new eResource, now available as a free download from the book’s website: www.routledge.com/9781138816442.

What is the relationship between fractions and rational numbers? Can you explain why the product of two fractions between 0 and 1 is less than either factor? How are rational numbers related to irrational numbers, which your students will study in later grades? How much do you know… and how much do you need to know? Helping your upper elementary school students develop a robust understanding of rational numbers requires that you understand this mathematics deeply. But what does that mean? This book focuses on essential knowledge for teachers about rational numbers. It is organised around four big ideas, supported by multiple smaller, interconnected ideas-essential understandings. Taking you beyond a simple introduction to rational numbers, the book will broaden and deepen your mathematical understanding of one of the most challenging topics for students and teachers. It will help you engage your students, anticipate their perplexities, avoid pitfalls and dispel misconceptions. You will also learn to develop appropriate tasks, techniques and tools for assessing students’ understanding of the topic. Focus on the ideas that you need to understand thoroughly to teach confidently.

For years, the teaching and learning of fractions has been associated with rote memorization. But this mechanical approach to instruction—which strips students of an ability to reason or make sense of math—has resulted in a failure of understanding. Author Monica Neagoy, drawing on decades of research studies, evidence from teacher practice, and 25 years of experience working around the world with teachers, students, and parents, addresses seven big ideas in the teaching and learning of fractions in grades 2–6. Each idea is supported by a vignette from a real classroom, common misconceptions, a thorough unpacking of productive mathematical thinking, and several multistep and thought-provoking problems for teachers to explore. She offers three fundamental reasons why it’s imperative for us to take a closer look at how we teach fractions: 1. Fractions play a key role in students’ feelings about mathematics. 2. Fractions are fundamental to school math and daily life. 3. Fractions are foundational to success in algebra. While a solid grounding in algebra is necessary for a STEM career, the worthy goal of “algebra for all” will not be possible until “fractions for all” is a reality. Unpacking Fractions provides teachers with concrete strategies for achieving that reality—in short, helping all students gain the knowledge they need to feel at ease with fractions.

For over a decade, Teaching Fractions and Ratios for Understanding has pushed readers beyond the limits of their current understanding of fractions and rational numbers, challenging them to refine and explain their thinking without falling back on rules and procedures they have relied on throughout their lives. All of the material offered in the book has been used with students, and is presented so that readers can see the brilliance of their insights as well as the issues that challenge their understanding. Written in a user-friendly, conversational style, this text helps teachers build the comfort and confidence they need to begin talking to children about fractions and ratios. The clear distillation of complex ideas and the translation of research into usable ideas for the classroom make this text a valuable resource for all pre- and in-service mathematics teachers. The highly anticipated third edition of this popular text has been heavily expanded and reorganized to make the connectivity of topics even more transparent, including more mathematics content, teaching/reasoning techniques, classroom activities, connections to other content, and applications to everyday life. In addition, the most effective features from previous editions have been retained. Special Features: Children’s Strategies and samples of student work are provided in each chapter for teacher analysis. Activities for practicing the thinking strategies explained in each chapter, designed to be solved without rules or algorithms, using reasoning alone. Online Resources for Instructors including a sample syllabus, chapter overviews and relevant Big Content ideas for each chapter, and graphics that can be copied and resized for use in instruction and in constructing exams. An equally valuable component of this text is MORE! Teaching Fractions and Ratios for Understanding, Third Edition---a supplement that is not merely an answer key but a resource that provides the scaffolding for this groundbreaking approach to fraction and ratio instruction. Also heavily expanded, MORE! includes in-depth discussions of selected problems in the main text, supplementary activities, Praxis preparation questions, more student work, and templates for key manipulatives.

This resource offers a groundbreaking effort to make mathematics education research on ratios and proportions readily accessible and understandable to preservice and in-service teachers of grades 6 to 8. Using extensive annotated samples of student work and based on research gathered in the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP), A Focus on Ratios and Proportions teaches readers how students develop understanding and fluency involving ratio and proportion concepts. Special features include: A close focus on student work, including 150+ annotated pieces of student work, to help teachers improve their ability to recognize, assess and monitor their students’ errors and misconceptions, as well as their developing conceptual understanding. A focus on the OGAP Ratios and Proportions Progression, based on research conducted with hundreds of teachers and thousands of pieces of student work. Sections on how Common Core State Standards for Math (CCSSM) are supported by math education research. Student work samples and vignettes to illuminate the research, as well as end of chapter Looking Back questions and Instructional Links, which allow teachers to analyze evidence of student thinking and strategies and consider instructional responses. An accompanying eResource, available online, offers an answer key as well as extensive explanation of the Looking Back questions. Like A Focus on Multiplication and Division and A Focus on Fractions, this book is designed to bridge the gap between what math education researchers know and what teachers need to know in order to better understand evidence in student work and make effective instructional decisions.