Action Research Dividing Fractions
Action Research Dividing Fractions
Action Research Dividing Fractions
Dividing Fractions
By Jennifer Brewster
Abstract:
A fifth grade class at Glenwood School near Princeton, WV studied a unit on division of
fractions. A pretest, two lessons, a quiz, and a post-test were used to test the progression of the
students growth of knowledge of the division of fractions. These lessons were taught as whole
group, small group, and one on one. Different teaching techniques were used to see if utilizing
different techniques effect the ending outcome for assessment.
Introduction:
My action research project is to determine if daily practice with varied instruction will
help students understand and learn the concepts of how to divide fractions by building on
previous knowledge of division and multiplication and of multiplying fractions. The fifth grade
students in Mrs. Bowmans class seem to understand the concepts of the math skills that have
been taught but struggle with the final assessments. The students have had previous experience
with division and experience with addition, subtraction, and multiplication of fractions prior to
the introduction of division of fractions. The action research plan included a pretest, formative
assessments on two practice sheets and quiz in between the two practice sheets, and final
assessment.
The school that I completed my action research project was Glenwood School.
Glenwood School is a located near Princeton, WV and is a part of the Mercer County School
District. Glenwood School is unique to the other 25 schools in Mercer County because it is a
K-8 school. Glenwood School has an estimated enrollment of 734. (Glenwood School)
95%
3%
1%
1%
0%
0%
0%
State
average
91%
5%
2%
1%
0%
0%
1%
(Glenwood School)
The whole fifth grade at Glenwood class has around 60 students this year. In Mrs.
Bowmans fifth grade class there were 20 students at the time of my action research project.
There have been several students enroll in the fifth grade at Glenwood and several students leave
to go to other schools this year. Mrs. Bowman lost a student the day after the action research
project was completed. There are a total of 11 boys and 9 girls in the class at the time of the
project. The students ages range from 10 to 12 years old. There is one student in the class that
has a 504 plan for ADHD. He is an above average student his only issues are impulsivity,
blurting, and paying attention for long periods of time. There are four students who are not
preforming on grade level. Three of these students are being referred for retentions and one is
being referred for testing for special education. The rest of the students are on grade level and
some are above grade level. There are no students classified as gifted in the class.
For my action research I chose division of fractions because it was a new skill to the
students and because it flowed naturally with the study of fractions that Mrs. Bowman and I had
been teaching for a few weeks. The learning goals is that at least half of the class scoring a 65%
or above on the final assessment. The Next Generation CSOs that are covered in this action
research project are as follows:
M.5.NF.7 - apply and extend previous understandings of division to divide unit fractions by
whole numbers and whole numbers by unit fractions
a.
interpret division of a unit fraction by a non-zero whole number and
compute such quotients. For example, create a story context for (1/3) 4 and use a visual
fraction model to show the quotient. Use the relationship between multiplication and
division to explain that (1/3) 4 = 1/12 because (1/12) 4 = 1/3.
b.
interpret division of a whole number by a unit fraction and compute such
quotients. For example, create a story context for 4 (1/5) and use a visual fraction
model to show the quotient. Use the relationship between multiplication and division to
explain that 4 (1/5) = 20 because 20 (1/5) = 4.
I was informed by the teacher that the students had never been introduced to dividing
fractions. To be sure of this information I took a survey of the students by asking them to raise
their hands if they had ever worked with dividing fractions and the students stated that they had
not had any experience with this skill. The students had just completed multiplication of
fractions the day before the pretest of division of fractions was conducted. All of the students
had a score of zero on the pretest. With only two students attempting to use multiplication to
solve the problems.
Teaching the first lesson was a challenge. I had researched different techniques for
teaching the division of fractions and found several wonderful videos and different things to add
to a PowerPoint. The Elmo and Smart Board werent working at the time so I couldnt use that
type of technology to aid me. I then chose to use the projector and charts to help with the
teaching of this skill. I used a projector to explain the rules for dividing fractions. The students
had a copy of a practice sheet with the rules for division of fractions on the top to help them see
how to work the problems.
I used examples using letters:
a/b c/d=
a/b x d/c=
Explaining the last fraction in the problem needs to be changed into a reciprocal by
switching the numbers in the numerator with the number in the denominator and then
multiplying the fraction.
Then I created a problem using numbers:
1/2 3/4 =
1/2 x 4/3 =
and how to set up a division problem when the numerator was larger than the dominator. I
modeled on paper for the students how to set up a fraction and how change the improper fraction
into a mixed number. These students were also struggling with their multiplication tables so they
were allowed to work with their multiplication charts from their resource folder. I gave the
students a divisibility tips chart to help them with division.
down. The skills covered in this lesson consisted of dividing a fraction by a fraction, dividing a
whole number by a fraction, and dividing a fraction by a whole number.
The students started working on the second practice sheet after I modeled two of the
problems on the page on the transparency. A student in the class read the reminder section at the
top of the page with the students and then they worked independently. I worked one on one with
the two students that were still having difficulty with division and multiplication when it was
time for the students to work independently. I reminded them to use the resources they had to
help them. The only time they cant use their resources is on a test.
The take home quiz was given the same night because there was snow expected in the
forecast. I went over the anchor chart and hand movements with the students one more time and
worked the first problem with them.
The students self-checked the quiz with me as we worked the problems on the board the
day they came back to school. After the testes were graded the students took the final test after
clearing their desks and putting up partitions to keep their work private. The students were not
allowed to use any of the resource assistance manipulatives during the final test. My goal for
improvement from the first pre-test was to have students improve with multiple and varied
instruction. I knew that most would improve from the pretest because everyone made a zero on
the pretest, but I wanted each formative assessment to improve and the highest grades to be on
the final assessment.
them tried to add the fractions together while some subtracted. There were two students who
tried to multiply the problems but didnt know to use the reciprocal.
I chose to teach the first lesson the way the students were normally instructed. The
teacher lectures and models a few problems. The students then work independently and selfcheck their work and then receive a participation grade for their practice of the math skill. I tried
this with the first lesson and ended up with lots of questions and confusion about division of
fractions. I pulled everyone I observed having issues completing the practice pages into a small
group. This was not in the plans but there were too many students struggling to work one on one
with every student. Because of the scores on the pretest and the struggles that the whole class
was having with the skill I decided to do some more research for idea on varying teaching
methods to help the students with division of fractions. I used created some hand gestures to
help teach the concept after watching a video from The Teaching Channel called Hand Gestures:
Movements Make Math Memorable. (Hand Gestures: Movements Make Math Memorable)
I then went and did even more research on how to teach division of fractions. I couldnt
use videos or media because the Elmo and the Smart Board were broken and not scheduled to be
fixed for some time. So I created an anchor chart to help students get a visual representation they
could refer back to so they could see the steps in solving the problems of dividing fractions. I
observed the students after the introduction of the charts and the muscle memory exercise with
the hand motions for keep, change, and flip. Most of the students in the class had fewer questions
on the practice page they were working.
I chose to give a take home practice quiz to the students to make sure that if we had a
snow day they would have some practice problems so that the students wouldnt forget how to
work the problems. I thought that extra practice of this skill would help the students prepare for
the test that was scheduled for the next day. I modeled how to do two of the problems on this
quiz and went over the chart and hand motions again.
I gave the students the same problems that the students had for their pretest on the final
assessment. I thought that it was a good idea to get a true sense of how well the students learned
to divide fractions. I had hoped that with the different teaching methods the students
performance on the assessments would improve greatly from the pretest and the first practice
lesson.
Student
Objective
(do)
Math
Specific
Assessment
s
To test prior
knowledge of
division of
fractions
10 question
assessment
on division of
fractions
Rationale of
Assessments
Pre
Assessment
Pre-Test
Formative
20 questions
related to
division of
fractions
To introduce division of
fractions and see how the
students learn from
lecture and modeling
10 question
interim
assessment
on division of
fractions
Practice
25
To assess
student
comprehension
of material by
using different
teaching
techniques
Interim
assesment of
student
content
knowledge
To assess
student
comprehension
of material by
using different
teaching
techniques
20 questions
related to
division of
fractions
Final
Assessm
ent
Post-instruction
assessment of
student
proficiency in
dividing
fractions
10 question
assessment
on division of
fractions
Post-instruction
assessment of student
proficiency in dividing
fractions
Practice
24
Quiz
PostAssessment
served with the Lego lessons as well. Im sorry that I used the techniques in the first lesson
because the students were struggling with this method and I knew that going in I just wanted to
see how they would improve with the introduction of new techniques.
I really wanted to do well with this project because I struggled with Math for most of my
life. I am pleased with the outcome because while most of the scores werent as high as I had
hoped I think everyone learned something about division of fractions. I learned a few things too.
Bibliography
Glenwood School. 2016. Web page. 10 March 2016.
<http://elementaryschools.org/directory/wv/cities/princeton/glenwoodschool/540084000685/#section-1>.
Hand Gestures: Movements Make Math Memorable. 2016. web page. 15 March
2016. <https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-math-handgestures>.
Samples