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Math Article Review 1

The article discusses teaching fraction concepts to pre-school and kindergarten students. It describes a study where students were asked to share snacks, which required solving problems involving fractions. The study found students were able to understand basic fraction concepts through sharing experiences before formal math instruction. The article recommends teachers build on this informal knowledge by using real-world examples involving sharing and emphasizing fraction vocabulary.

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151 views

Math Article Review 1

The article discusses teaching fraction concepts to pre-school and kindergarten students. It describes a study where students were asked to share snacks, which required solving problems involving fractions. The study found students were able to understand basic fraction concepts through sharing experiences before formal math instruction. The article recommends teachers build on this informal knowledge by using real-world examples involving sharing and emphasizing fraction vocabulary.

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Camille Grigdesby

Concepts of Elementary Math I 3303-010


11 March 2015

Cwikla, J. j. (2014). Can Kindergartners Do Fractions?. Teaching Children


Mathematics, 20(6), 354-364.

Can Kindergarteners Do Fractions Abstract

The article offers suggestions on teaching the concept of fraction to pre-school and
kindergarten-age children. Recommendations include elaborating snack-sharing
context, explaining fractional quantities and using mathematical language in
problem solving. The significance of verbal description in representing solution
strategies is also discussed.

I found Can Kindergarteners Do Fractions by Julie Cwikla interesting because it


explores the idea that children ages three to six already have an understanding of
fractions prior to formal curriculum. Julie Cwikla conducted a study at a Montessori
school in a coastal town in Mississippi studying how students do fractions using real
life experiences such as fair sharing. She gives the different children various
scenarios such as sharing carrots, granola bars, crackers, pretzel sticks, each
scenario resulting in the children rationalizing how to fairly share the snack even
though the result wont be whole numbers. From her study she concluded children in
pre-kindergarten and kindergarten have an understanding of fractions from sharing,
and educators should use that prior knowledge in their classrooms.
One of the most interesting things I took away from this article is that children as
young as three can have a basic understanding of fractions without any formal
education. Ive never thought about sharing as doing fractions, but sharing is the
most real life example of fractions children can experience. Children have so much
more of an understanding of fractions than teachers thought when they come into
the classroom for the first time. This is definitely something I want to keep in my
mind for when I go into the classroom as a teacher. The second key idea are the
classroom implications we can do as teachers to promote that precurricular
understanding. We need to take the real life experiences such as sharing, and
manipulate them in our classrooms to help students develop the understanding of
fractions. I thought the section on classroom implications had so many practical tips
for teachers. It provides ideas like having students extend their answers to include
fraction, not just whole numbers. One of my favorite tips was encouraging students
to use fraction terms such as half and whole even if theyre not using them correctly
at first because theyre becoming familiar with the mathematical vocabulary.

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