Math in motion
Danville students learning fractions with manipulatives
For the Enquirer
You could say Sydni Franklin’s sixth grade math class at Danville Middle School is learning fractions the hard way – well, the hard plastic way.
A few weeks ago, her students started studying fractions using a collection of rods, blocks and other shapes meant to show them how fractions look geometrically, not just as numbers on a page. These colorful doodads are called manipulatives, and they help small groups of students study fractions in a hands-on manner. The exercise makes abstract concepts like math more tangible.
These fraction bars or blocks are called Cuisenaire Rods. The class got them out during one of Franklin’s “lab classes,” which she uses to teach material the students are struggling to grasp. “The lab classes give us a little more freedom to teach things they are not understanding and to go back and sort of reteach,” Franklin said. “We were going back and adding and subtracting fractions because they were confused on it.” The rods and other shapes work by being different lengths and colors, which helps the students “see” the fractions.
“It’s more visual so you can get a better understanding of it instead of just looking at a board while she teaches,” said 12-year-old Charley Penney, a student in the class.
“We learned that when there are different sizes of blocks and different colors of blocks it is a different fraction,” said Avella Underwood, 11.
Because Underwood is a visual learner, she stopped her comment to grab some of the blocks to hold them up and illustrate.
“I learned that half of a blue block is a purple block,” she said. “This gives me a better visual – it helps me understand it better. I just love it a lot.” Aiden Bryant, 11, said he learned how to make a whole using different types of blocks – or different fractions of the whole.
“It helps you get a visual,” he said, and then it’s easier to know how to do math problems using fractions.
Blake Wood, 12, said that instead of working the fractions out on a piece of paper he could “see it better and learn more from it. Instead of just giving us a worksheet and telling us to do it she did this and it really helped.” Franklin recently trained on this tech-nique using the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) numbers book. It is the Alabama State Department of Education’s effort to improve math and science teaching statewide. Teachers use professional development hours to improve their teaching skills.
“My kids are 12 years old, they are high-energy, they want to run around, they will take a mile if you give them an inch, so doing things like this is very beneficial but it is also challenging. It gets dicey, but it is definitely worth it in the long run because like Aiden said, it gives you a concrete idea. I really liked this when I saw it. You never know what will stick, but they really did enjoy this.”
