Examples of what pupils should know and be able to do
Answer questions such as:
- cancel these fractions to their simplest form by looking for highest common factors:
, 
, 
; - find two other fractions equivalent to
; - show that is equivalent to
or 
or 
; - find the unknown numerator or denominator in:
Probing questions
What clues did you look for to cancel these fractions to their simplest form?
How do you know when you have the simplest form of a fraction?
Give me two equivalent fractions. How do you know they are equivalent?
Give me some fractions that are equivalent to ... How did you do it?
What if pupils find this a barrier?
Pupils need to develop the idea of equivalence – expressing a fraction in as many ways as they can – and to begin to recognise how to find specific equivalent fractions, i.e. those with particular denominators.
Use matching activities to get pupils, in pairs, to sort fractions into equivalent sets.
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