How To Teach Dividing Fractions

Dividing Fractions With Partitive Division Classroom Sneak Peek

Think back to when you learned how to divide fractions. What comes to mind?

For some, they might recall “flipping” the second fraction and “multiplying the tops and the bottoms”.

For others, they might get an anxious feeling in your stomach.

For others still, they may not remember anything at all.

For me, both as a teacher and as a student, dividing fractions simply meant following steps and procedures to reveal an answer. Do not ask me why multiplying by the reciprocol of the second fraction works, but I could tell you what the final answer should be.

Thinking of mathematics as simply a set of steps and procedures to memorize is problematic not only because it hides the interconnectedness of mathematics, but is also ensures that only “some” will be able to access and engage based on their ability to memorize.

In today’s video, we’ll be jumping into a grade 7 remote learning math class and you’ll get a sense of how to teach dividing fractions through a Make Math Moments problem based lesson.

As we do in each problem based math lesson we lead, rather than simply pre-teaching concepts, we’ll be using the Curiosity Path to dive into a context-rich problem that is from our latest unit that is ready for diving into in the Problem Based Math Lesson area of the website. 

Watch as we dive into an edited ‘summary’ of this remote learning math class where we share some of the key parts of the lesson including the Sparking Curiosity intro through the Curiosity Path, Fuelling their Sense Making through a productive struggle prompt and keep an eye for how we can Ignite Our Teacher Moves throughout!

Give a quick watch to find out how! All relevant links are located below the video.

Resources Related To The Video

• Dive into the Salting The Driveway problem based math lesson with your students
• Explore our other Problem Based Math Units
• Learn how to consistently Make Math Moments in our Academy

Want to Run Problem Based Lessons Without a Hitch In Your Classroom?

Head over to the Make Math Moments 3-Part Framework page to dive right in or click below to download the guidebook to take with you!