Wasilewski_Math

[|**edc 456 LP_wasilewski.doc**] **-**Lesson Plan


 * Grade 6- Math: Working with Fractions and Decimals**

[|student work_was_shanswer2.pdf] -Student work [|student work_was_shanswer1.pdf] -Student work

**Analysis of data:** The results of the assessment show that the students can work flexibly with fractions and decimals when using them to solve a math problem, but that they have a difficult time describing this relationship in words. The students were able to accurately multiply simple fractions and divide decimals. When given a rectangle divided into ten parts that had a decimal portion of the shape shaded, most students were able to correctly determine the fraction of the shape that was unshaded. This demonstrates the students' understandings of the relationship between fractions and decimals, but when asked to describe this relationship in words, many of the students struggled. For example, when students were asked to explain why .30 and 3/10 were equal, most students only addressed that these numbers both had a three and a zero in them, and not the "part-to-whole" relationship. **Recommendations for future instruction for entire class:** When instructing the entire class in the future, I would spend more time describing the relationship between fractions and decimals to the students. I would use manipulative and word problems to illustrate how these two concepts are related, and I would explain how these two concepts are dependent on one another. I would also work on having students describe their thought processes in words so that they gain mathematical literacy and provide the teacher with insight into their thinking. In the future, I would instruct the sampled students to gain a deeper understanding of place values. Some of these students did not know how to explain that .30 equals three tenths, or 30 hundredths. This understanding would have certainly helped them to explain the fraction-decimal relationship that would have been helpful in this lesson. Other students had a difficult time understanding which operations needed to be applied to arrive at the answer. I would help these students to make sense of word problems by improving their mathematical literacy. By improving the understanding of these terms and concepts, students will no longer be challenged by the wording of problems and will be able to let their mathematical abilities stand out.
 * Recommendations for future instruction for sampled students:**