Reply To: Teaching fractions to students who know the algorithms but do not understand the

[Kyle Pearce]

Thanks for sharing this experience! Super interesting!

Something I noted was the idea of the one class understanding concepts, but struggling with the algorithm. 

My wonder is whether there is a need/necessity for them to use the algorithm now (or ever?) if they are able to represent their thinking using models. Just a thought… curious as to your perspective on that.

Also, when it comes to getting kids to do things like multiply or divide, having a really strong sense of representing with models like number lines and arrays/area models is really important. How are they doing in that department? Do you have any photos of student work to share?