Essential Strategy 6. Provide meaningful opportunities for students to translate between fraction and decimal notation.

Specific Strategies

Below are some examples of how the tool can be used to create activities that help students understand that “when comparing quantities, the size of the whole matters”.

#1: Provide meaningful opportunities for students to translate between fraction and decimal notation.
#2: Converting Fractions to Decimals, Divide the numerator by the denominator.

Tool Examples: pending

Classroom Activities

Below are some examples of how the tool can be used to create some of the sample activities from the book that are designed to help students provide students with “multiple opportunities to translate between decimal and fraction notation” and understand that they are simply two notation systems for the same number.

Activity 1: Fraction Decimal Equivalency

Tool: Ordering Fractions on a Number Line

This tool can be used to provide a visual representation of fraction and decimal equivalency similar to the double number line activities found in the book.

  • Set up the number line by clicking on the show decimal, button on the right of the number line. This shows both the decimal and the fraction when the fraction is placed. Select the show fraction while dragging button. This show the decimal above the number line while the student is moving the fraction into place and may assist the student in placing the fraction.
  • Create and lock fraction so they can be placed by the students
  • Begin by having students drag fractions onto the number line (as shown below)
  • Click the unlock button to create more fractions or to switch to decimals.

Fractions with decimal equivalents on a number line.

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Activity 2: Estimation on a Number Line

Tool: Estimating Fractions on a Number Line

This tool can be used prior to introducing students to the Fraction and Decimal Flip activity as a format for introducing and/or reinforcing benchmarks. Activities using this tool do not require student to place the number therefore they do not need to be as precise in their estimations as expected in the Fraction and Decimal Flip. When students select the correct benchmark (shown in figure 1) and check work, a vector (figure 2) is provided as feedback to reinforce and extend understanding.

Estimating fractions on a number line.

Estimating fractions on a number line with vector displayed.

Activity 3: Fraction Decimal Match-up

Tool: Ordering on a Number Line

There are a number of ways in which the teacher can set up this tool. In the first example, the number line contains 3 fractions and students dragging decimal grids to the number line to match fractions. In the second example, the "show decimal" and "show decimal while dragging" buttons are selected, but the number line does not contain the fractions. Both the fractions and the number appear when the model is placed.

Drag the decimal grid to match the fraction.

Here the fraction notation does not appear on the number line.

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