The High-Stake of Helping Students to Achieve a Solid Foundation in Understanding and Solving Fractions

Abstract

This paper examined the importance of helping students to achieve a solid
foundation in understanding and solving fractional problems. Since students don’t
come to the classroom as blank-slate, they have their own theories constructed
from their everyday experience. Unfortunately, some of these theories are incomplete and half-truth. The factors contributing to the widespread challenges
associated with learning and teaching of fractions were highlighted: ways of
improving the teaching of fractional concept to help students’ understanding of
fractions were discussed. Many teachers frequently observe students in their
classrooms use inappropriate whole number strategies when solving fraction
problems and when students exhibit these errors, they provide opportunities for
teachers to adapt their lessons to address such errors. Finally, the researchers
propose activities and methods that can be used to allow students to better
understand fractions and to reduce the complexity they face when dealing with
calculations involving fractions.