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For information on required and/or optional materials, see See Note 1 below.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
In this session, you will do the following:
• Understand fractions in both part-part and part-whole interpretations
• Understand units and unitizing
• Learn how to use Cuisenaire Rods to represent and model computation with fractions
• Understand the differences between absolute and relative thinking and their relationships to mathematical operations
• Learn that proportional reasoning is an example of relative or multiplicative thinking
Previously Introduced:
rational number
Rational numbers are numbers that can be expressed as a quotient of two integers; when expressed in a decimal form they will either terminate (1/2 = 0.5) or repeat (1/3 = 0.333…)
New in This Session:
absolute comparison
An absolute comparison is an additive comparison between quantities. In an absolute comparison, 7 out of 10 is considered to be larger than 4 out of 5, since 7 is larger than 4.
part-part interpretation
Part-part interpretation of a fraction is the notion of comparing one quantity within a whole to another quantity within that whole. For example, if, on a field trip, there are 3 adults for every 10 students, the part-part interpretation of this relationship would be 3/10 (which could also be written as 3:10).
part-whole interpretation
Part-whole interpretation of a fraction represents one or more parts of a single unit. For example, the fraction 4/5 represents the part-whole relationship in the following phrase: “Four out of five dentists prefer Blasto toothpaste.”
relative comparison
A relative comparison is a multiplicative, or proportional, comparison between quantities. In a relative comparison, 4 out of 5 is considered to be larger than 7 out of 10, since 4/5 is larger than 7/10.
Materials Needed:
You can use the cutouts of the rods from the Rod Template.