Strategies to Help With Learning Fractions

I HATE FRACTIONS! As a parent or teacher, how many times have you heard this statement? Fractions seem to be such a difficult math topic for young people. As an experienced math teacher, I myself have heard this statement all too often.



Upon graduating from university and beginning my teaching career as a middle school math teacher, I was stunned to see that 14 year olds did not know basic fractions. My curriculum outlined algebra and the sort, yet the students didn’t even know how to add two fractions! This is something they should have been fluent with by now. So what did I do?



I had no choice, I had to veer off of the curriculum and spend a considerable amount of time re-teaching fractions to students that should have known how to do them. What was the result? I found that the students were able to retain the information for only a short period of time. I had given them a review of fractions a few months later and nearly all of them had reverted to making the same mistakes they were making before I re-taught fractions. What disillusion and disappointment. I was only in my first year of teaching and I felt as if I had failed the students. Have you as a parent or teacher felt this way? Have you felt that sometimes you are just not reaching the student?



Well what can you do? Now after several years of teaching math at various levels, I have found specific techniques that parents or teachers can use to help their children master fractions. First let’s address the parents.



Parents, your role is vital if your children are to be successful using fractions, and to be successful at math in general. First and foremost take a vested interest in your children’s homework. Help them when they have fractions and if you yourself are unfamiliar with how to do it, seek help. Get a tutor or get in touch with your child’s teacher. When you go to these lengths you are reinforcing the topic with your child, and there is a greater chance that the information will be retained over time. Also go online and try to buy fraction ebooks or other resources for that you can give to your children so that they can practice and master fractions.



Another strategy that parents can employ to assist their children is to make fractions a part of their child’s life. Take time to bake with your children, or work on a project that involves measurement that has fractions in it. By doing this, the child will see that fractions are really a part of life and have practical value. Again, this will help the child to retain the information over time.



There are several strategies that teachers can use to help students to understand fractions, but let’s focus on just one; connecting math. There are several resources and fraction ebooks out there that teachers can purchase or download for free that will help in this. The point is to put fractions in every topic throughout the school year and not just isolate fractions as one topic. So when teaching geometry, algebra, negative numbers and everything else, incorporate fractions. Ensure to include several critical thinking activities as well. If you connect fractions to all topics throughout the year, the chances are higher that the students will retain the information.



So remember, with the right fraction ebooks, resources, and combined effort between the student, parent, and teacher; children can learn and retain fractions. Then instead of fearing and hating them, they will be able to engage them head on with confidence!