Celebrating Excellence in Maths Education
So proud to share that I have been recommended as an Accredited NCETM School Development Lead. This year long programme demonstrates my ongoing commitment to empowering teachers, strengthening maths pedagogy, and championing high‑quality professional development. After 25+ years in School Improvement, I have enjoyed collaborating with other professional, learning from research and one another.
I’ve been thinking about fractions
This week I’ve been working with secondary TAs and fractions and we were considering the calculation
We explore different strategies and then showed them a number line, counting on from the part to the whole, they really weren’t happy.
I then shared 2003-1998. They instantly related this it to something familiar: “Oh, that’s like counting back years.” They said they would count on and potentially model using a numberline.
My next example was 4002 – 3995 – again the numberline was the most appropriate method for them.
Why were they happy with integers and not fractions? When I put the two fractions on the numberline, they didn’t see it as the same number line they used for whole numbers. It felt like a new representation, not a continuation of the one they knew. They were not familiar with fractions as points on a line nor fractions as a distance.
To make number lines feel natural for fractions, learners need to see:
- mixed numbers placed accurately
- fractional intervals marked clearly
- jumps shown visually
- the connection to integer number lines made more explicit
Do I model the use of numberlines to for subtraction of mixed numbers enough?
