How can we improve children’s knowledge and understanding of fractions, proportions and ratios?
Why research this? At the end of 2008 all children at Andersons Bay school were tested on the Numeracy Diagnostic Test (NumPA). The results of the proportion and ratio section of the test appeared to be lower than the National Norms. Therefore, our middle team classes (Yr3-‐4) decided to research the reasons for these low scores, and how we could improve children's knowledge and understanding of proportions and ratios. The NZ National expected levels of achievement for numeracy strategies and knowledge are based on a Longitudinal Study by Tagg, A. and Thomas, G. (2007) In Fractional knowledge, proportions and ratios, the expected level for children at the end of Year 3 is Stage 4-‐5. The expected level for children at the end of Year 4 is stage 5. At Anderson’s Bay School in 2008: At the end of Year 3: 59% were stage 3 41% were at stage 4 At the end of Year 4: 39% were at stage 4 or below 61% were at stage 5 or above According to these results our school had 59% of year 3 children rated as ‘cause for concern’. And 39% of Year 4 rated as either ‘cause for concern’ or ‘at risk’.
Research Each teacher carried out some research readings into the teaching of fractions, proportions, ratios, and children’s understanding of these concepts.
Pitkethly, A. & Hunting, R. A review of recent research in the area of initial fraction concepts. In this review it is suggested that the basis of rational number building is initial fraction concepts, language and symbols of fractions, fraction knowledge, and part-‐whole partitioning. Children’s informal knowledge is important in the development of fraction concepts. Lamon, Susan. J (1949) Teaching fractions and ratios for understanding. Mahwah N.J : L Erlbaum Associates This reading stated: ‘Fraction, ratio and rational number ideas are mathematically complex and interconnected. A long term learning process is required…current instruction that gives a brief introduction through part-‐whole fractions…does not give the children the time they need to construct ideas and understandings’. It also stated: ‘Early fraction activities often involve questions about pizza. Students answer “how many slices” of the pizza were eaten rather than “how much pizza was eaten”. The number of slices is merely a counting problem. The question “how much of the pizza” implies “what part of the original amount of pizza” which requires relative and proportional thinking.” It then explains the main reasons why fractions are hard for children, with examples: As a New Entrant, children learn to one-‐one count. They give one number to each object. With fractions the unit may consist of more than one object but it can still be called one. The new unit can also be divided into parts, and a new kind of number refers to the parts of that whole. The unit changes in each new situation What looks the same can be represented by different numbers Equal sharing is a new concept Children only have a limited knowledge of multiplication/division before starting fractions The numbers no longer have simple labels, can’t easily be physically represented, or are hard to add or subtract Teachers confuse terminology of fractions
These readings were discussed at our team meetings and we came up with a plan of how to try to improve children’s understandings and how to incorporate the teaching of fractions into our classroom programme. We decided to: • Look at what our children already know, in the form of a pre-‐test. • Look at resources available to help teach Fractions, proportions and ratios and purchase some new ones. • Research teaching ideas, online tools, and children’s online games. • Set aside one math session a week for teaching fractions, and use the laptop pod during this time to give children access to the online games, for all of term 2. • Following this, we planned to test all children again at the end of the term. We developed our own pretest… And pre-‐ tested the children… The results of the pre-‐test were: Year 3 average score was 23/70 This equates to an average score of 33% Year 4 average score was 48/70 This equates to an average score of 69%
Number of Children
Frac7on and Ra7o Test Year 3 2009 15 10 5
Pre Test
0 0 -‐ 10
11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 Score Results
Number of Children
Frac7on and Ra7o Test Year 4 2009 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Pre Test
0 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 Score Results
We launched into teaching fractions, proportions and ratios once a week. For 8 weeks the children played the fractions games and explored the websites. All children particularly enjoyed the board game ‘Pizza Fun’ and the various websites. To compare results we gave the children the pre-‐test again as a post-‐test. Our post-‐test results showed that in Year 3: The average score was 43/70 which equated to a 61% average score And in Year 4: The average score was 57/70 which equated to an 81% average score. Year 4’s Pre test: The average score was 48/70 which equated to a 69% average score. The post test showed an overall 12% increase in scores. The largest individual improvement in scores was an increase of 38%. The post test showed an overall 12% increase in scores. The largest individual improvement in scores was an increase of 38%.
Frac7on and Ra7o Test Year 3 2009 16
Number of Children
14 12 10 8 Pre Test
6
Post Test
4 2 0
0 -‐ 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70 Score Results
Frac7on and Ra7o Test Year 4 2009 20
Number of Children
18 16 14 12 10
Pre Test
8
Post Test
6 4 2 0 0 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 61 to 70
Score Results
Children’s basic knowledge of fractions appeared to improve and the children also became more confident in their understanding of fractions. In order to judge whether we had improved children’s knowledge and understanding of fractions, proportions and ratios we then needed to test the children on the fractional knowledge, proportions and ratios section of the NumPA test. We tested all children the knowledge and strategy questions on Form B of the NumPA test, and some children on Form C.
Fractional
Knowledge
Results
The expected stage for Fractional Knowledge at the end of Year 3, is stage 4-‐5. In Year 3 this year 93.24% scored at or above the expected level of stage 4-‐5; and 6.66% below the expected level. The expected stage for Fractional Knowledge at the end or Year 4, is stage 5 In Year 4 this year 97.6% scored at or above the expected level of Stage 5 and 2.44% below the expected level.
Proportion and Ratios Results
The expected strategy stage for Proportions and Ratios at the end of Year 3 is Stage 4-‐5. In Year 3 this year 86.58% scored at or above the expected level. The expected strategy stage for Proportions and Ratios at the end of Year 4 is Stage 5. In Year 4 this year 48.8% scored at or above the expected level.
Summary of Results The 2009 group of Year 3 children showed greatly improved percentages of children working at or above the expected stages in both knowledge and strategy questions, compared to the 2008 group of Year 3 children. However, the 2009 group of Year 4 children had mixed results compared to the 2008 group of Year 4 children. The 2009 group showed greatly improved percentages of children working at or above in the fractional knowledge questions, but there was a decrease of percentages of children working at or above in the strategy questions compared to the 2008 group of Year 4 children.
Discussion
To really track whether there has been an improvement in scores, we probably needed to track the same group of children from 2008 to 2009. If we compared the scores of 2008 Year 3’s to the 2009 Year 4’s (the same group of children), then there was an increase of average percentage scores in both knowledge and strategy questions. Limitations of Study As discussed our results did not actually compare the same group of children i.e. The 2009 Year 4’s were Year 3’s in 2008 and the 2009 Year 3’s were Year 2’s in 2008. The NUMPA tests for this research were administered in August, rather than at the end of the year as is intended. Proportions and Ratios are not introduced until stage 4. Children need to have sound multiplication and division knowledge before they can grasp fractional knowledge and strategies. In fact, Form A of the NumPa test does not include any fractions, proportions and ratios questions. The numeracy test itself is very limiting, as it only has a few questions, and there appears to be a huge leap between the strategy questions on form B. There may be marked variations in how different teachers assign a stage to each answer in the NUMPA test.
Further Observations
We believe that it will be interesting to see if most of the children retain this knowledge and understanding in the longer term. In reality, when teaching a balanced math curriculum that covers all strands, it is difficult to implement long term instruction in this one area. We found that although the study was an interesting exercise, we would do it differently next time, by focusing on and tracking a target group of children over two years.
Useful resources used by classroom teachers: Web
Games
Books
www.woodlands-‐junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/
Pizza Fraction fun Fraction Lotto
Dragon Math 1 and 2
www.gameaquarium.com
www.coolmath.jc-‐schools.net
www.coolkidsmaths-‐games.com
www.mathplayground.com www.coolmath4kids.com www.mathsfractions.com
Fraction flashcards
Fraction dominoes Fraction circles
Teacher tools-‐ Fractions, decimals and percentages Bk1
No Nonsense Number-‐ Fractions Stages 5-‐6
www.helpwithfractions.com www.funschool.kaboose.com/funblaster
Digistore – fraction fiddle http://www.tki.org.nz/r/digistore/protected/objects/?id=2801&vers=1.0