Introduction
In school math was always a difficult subject for me. My teachers would teach the formula but I never understood the ‘why’ behind the process. For me as a student, this type of instruction led to confusion and misconceptions. It turned me into the kind of student who tried to memorize the procedures being presented by the teacher. It was not until college that I met a professor who taught about drawing pictures and representations to help aid in understanding various math concepts for students in elementary school. He encouraged us to always come up with various ways to represent situations because in a classroom you will need to think about all of your learners. This way of thinking changed my opinion about math and how it can be taught in the classroom.
Some of my own struggles as a student also plague my students every year. More specifically, I see the struggle students have when we are working with fractions. When we start the concept in class it is like they have never seen a fraction, when in reality they deal with fractions in their everyday lives. For example, fractions can be seen when they share a pizza with their families, when they are baking in the kitchen with their parent, and even when they look at a clock and tell the time. Their inability to connect their experiences to fractions demonstrates that students don’t understand how fractions work. Through my research I have learned that fractions involve complex ideas and they require a lot of attention. I have realized that I need to spend more time developing conceptual understanding before moving into procedures. Students need time to manipulate and construct visuals that allow them to understand what a fraction represents. Once students have the understanding they can start to use their knowledge to help solve problems in context.
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