Task 2-3 Appropriate Use of Technology

The tool that I chose to use for the Appropriate use of Technology assignment, Task 2-3 from the Illuminations Website is called the “Fraction game”. It is listed under one of the Activities for students from 6th-8th grade.




Click here to play the game



The activity is designed to allow students to individually practice working with relationships among fractions and ways of combining fractions.



1. What mathematics does it teach or reinforce? Finding multiple paths to adding fractions together to get a desired result.
2. Is this effective? Absolutely! This is a great tool for students that shows that there is more than one way to add fractions together to get the same number. For instance if the desired result is to find all combinations listed that will add together to get 4/5. The sliding scale on the game will allow you to move the fifths marker to 3/5 and the tenths marker to 2/10, thus adding together to make 4/5. It would also allow you to slide the markers to 2/5 and 4/10 and so on.

3. Does the technology offer something that other tools would not? I think so, even though the scope of the tool is really just finding ways to add fractions together there aren’t many tools that are this easy to use that shows the different possibilities and values of adding these fractions.

4. Are there other effective ways to teach or reinforce this same content? Of course, this is only one way to practice adding fractions, probably not a tool you would use to initially teach how to add fractions together.

5. If you were to teach this same lesson, what might you change about the delivery or example(s)? I think specifically for this level, I might use a little more student friendly language when initially explaining the model. Also, I would want to also provide a way to subtract the fractions also to get the same desired result so that more extensive learning can happen when using the tool.

Standards harmoniously blending?

The following statements are the standards expressed by the NCTM, common core, and CMP websites on the topic of 6th-8th grade math respectively:

In grades 6-8, all students will work flexibly with fractions, decimals, and percents to solve problems.

Compare numbers in a variety of ways, including differences, rates, ratios, and percents and choose when each comparison is appropriate (6, 7, 8)


Apply and extend previous understandings of addition and subtraction to add and subtract rational numbers; represent addition and subtraction on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram. 

The question at hand is "How, if, or when do these sets of standards harmoniously blend together?". All three of these sets seem to have the focus on the topic be in different places, whether it be working flexibly with these numbers, choosing when to use the numbers appropriately, and then how to apply or recognize them on one of the number lines or diagrams. The point of all three of the standards is for these students to understand how to correctly use and apply fractions, decimals, percents and ratios. I honestly think that they each compliment each other very well, and together make a very comprehensive goal for 6th-8th grade students to reach.

Best Practices in Education

Best practices in education is the idea that those involved in the field of education continually do professional research to better the ways that they do education. There are many different topics when addressing the thought of best practices in education. A few of the topics that i found through the NEA Website that I really think are important to our topic of math are listed below:

Project based learning (PBL)

Universal Design for Learning

Peer Tutoring

All three of these topics are brought out in detail in their links. I truly believe that PBL, Peer tutoring, and Universal Design are three things that can be very beneficial for learning in the classroom. Project based learning is great for math because it forces students and teachers to make and have math be applicable and not just computing. Also, the need for universal design in math and all of education is pretty apparent to me... Making sure that we all can have the same base of information that we need to teach is important, this way we know how to meet the standards and also have the opportunity to reach those standards in our own ways. Finally, peer tutoring is an excellent tool for mathematics. When you have a classroom full of students with a gamete of learning potentials, peer tutoring is a chance to pair your stronger students with those who struggle more with the material so those who understand it better continue to learn while teaching the others, while those who struggle get a chance to have some one on one instruction.