Are you teaching dividing fractions to students who are not engaged or just “don’t get it”? Do you have students who are visual learners?
I’m going to show you two hands-on, real-world dividing fractions examples that you can show to or demonstrate with your students. “Seeing” the math in real life may help connect some of the dots.
Dividing Unit Fractions by Whole Numbers
This video shows students what it looks like to take a unit fraction and divide it by a whole number. You can easily use food such as a protein bar, cake, brownie, Rice Krispie treat, or anything else that can be easily cut into pieces.
The fraction of a whole is being split. When this happens, the answer (or the quotient) is less than the fraction that you started with. If you take part of a whole and split it up, each resulting piece must be less than the original fractional piece.
Dividing Whole Numbers by Unit Fractions
This video shows students what it looks like to take a whole number and divide it by a unit fraction.
The whole number (3 power bars) is split into fractional pieces (fifths), resulting in many pieces. Once split, each piece represents its own whole that was created from the original. Therefore, the answer (or the quotient) is greater than the whole number that you started with. When 3 power bars are split into 1/5 sized pieces, you end up with 25 pieces.
Using these hands-on real-world dividing fractions scenarios will make it much easier for your students to make the connections they need before teaching them the standard algorithm.
Feel free to show these to your students, or you can bring food into the classroom and have them try it for themselves!
Need More Help with Teaching Dividing Fractions?
Check out my dividing fractions resources.
Looking for More Information and Resources for Fractions?
Blog Posts
- Adding and Subtracting Fractions
- Adding and Subtracting Mixed Numbers
- Multiplying Fractions
- Dividing Fractions
- Equivalent Fractions
- Introducing Fractions
- Simplifying Fractions
- Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers
