Making Connections - Using the Fraction Stacks Image
The image of ‘fractions stacks’ helps pupils to see that fraction multiplication is commutative. Use tried and tested classroom resources developing this image:- Fraction stacks – Teacher prompts and resources
- Images of fractions – Interactive Teaching Program (ITP) and accompanying ‘How to use notes’.
What do the resources include?
All the resources draw on the image of fraction stacks to secure pupils’ understanding of fractions as part of proportional reasoning. They are available as teacher notes and resource sheets or as a computer application:
Teacher notes – fraction stacks image which provide prompts for
- a sequence of lessons establishing connections between multiples of a fraction and fractions of a quantity
- a second sequence where this is extended to finding non-unitary fractions of a quantity.
Images of fractions ITP - Interactive Teaching Program
How to use Images of fractions ITP notes.
How will these resources help pupils?
Pupils will be familiar with images of fractions as parts of a single shape or as a number, on a number line for example. Use the fraction stacks image to support more sophisticated understanding of fractions that will underpin pupils’ proportional reasoning skills.
In the example of fraction stacks image below, a row represents 1, and the images show a ‘stack of 7’. The first image is shaded to show ‘one third of seven’ and the second to show ‘seven lots of one third’. The aim is to help pupils see that the shaded parts are equal.
What else is available?
You will find further information to establish secure foundations to the understanding of fractions in ‘What is a fraction?’.