Table 2 Teacher use and mean ratings of the effectiveness of various fraction activities
Percentage of respondents | Mean rating of effectiveness (1: not at all–5: extremely) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Activity | Description | Have used | Would use in the future | |
Candies | Have students bring in two chocolate bars. Identify fractions, such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, as proportions of the candy bars. | 60% | 90% | 3.95 (.84) |
Circles | Have students use circles cut into equally sized sectors to represent fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. | 78% | 96% | 3.74 (.86) |
Cookies | Have students make sets of cookies (either real or paper). Construct sets of cookies with and without chocolate chips to represent fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. | 56% | 89% | 3.96 (.88) |
Egg Carton | Have students bring in empty egg cartons. Fill egg cartons with different numbers of plastic eggs to represent fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/12. | 21% | 84% | 3.68 (.90) |
Kite | Have students make a kite of different colored sections to represent a fraction. Represent common fractions, such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, through kites made by different students. | 33% | 84% | 3.57 (.89) |
Number Line | Have students make a number line to represent fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. | 70% | 87% | 3.30 (.99) |
Paper strips | Have students cut strips of paper. Fold the strips into different proportions to represent fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. | 74% | 95% | 3.85 (.85) |
Pattern blocks | Have students explore a set of pattern blocks and identify fractions, such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, as the ratio of a smaller shape to a larger shape. | 70% | 94% | 3.78 (.88) |
Pizzas | Have students make pizzas out of paper. Cut the pizzas into equally sized slices to represent fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. | 67% | 93% | 3.86 (.82) |
Quilts | Have students make paper quilts by coloring (or pasting) equal-sized geometric parts of a square. Identify the fraction (such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8) which describes the proportion of each color or pattern in a specific square. | 23% | 85% | 3.61 (.90) |