Utilization of virtual manipulatives in teaching fractions: inputs for development of self-instructional materials

  • Meshiell D. Pablo Teacher III
Keywords: Fraction, decimals

Abstract

Fraction is one of the basic but poorly understood concepts in Mathematics in elementary school curriculum. In 12 years of teaching, I always noticed that the students tend to avoid questions or problems with fractions. In my certain topic, I always integrate my examples and given to integers, decimals, and fractions. But only in fractions they are having difficulties, specifically, addition and subtraction of fractions. It maybe because of some rules to follow and there are some pre- requisite topics prior to the lesson. Since there are fixed list of targets of lessons to be discussed by the teachers and competencies to be acquired by the students in a school year, the teachers tend to follow and finish the designed curriculum in the allotted time, compromising the quality of learners they are producing. A fraction does not represent a specific amount, but rather it represents a portion of an amount. Research showed that fractions were among the most difficult mathematical concepts to master (Behr, Harel, Post, & Lesh, 1992; Bezuk & Cramer, 1989; Moss & Case,1999)

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References

ABS-CBN NEWS(2013).Integrating manipulatives in schools: 21st century learning. Retrieved from https://ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
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Behr, M. J., Wachsmuth, I., Post, T. R., & Lesh, R. (1984).Order and equivalence of rational numbers: A clinical teaching experiment. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 15(5), 323 – 341.
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Moyer, P. S., Niezgoda, D., & Stanley, J. (2005). Young children’s use of virtual manipulatives and other forms of mathematical representations. In W. J. Masalaski & P. C. Elliott (Eds.), Technology-supported mathematics learning environments (pp. 17–34). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Published
2021-01-12
How to Cite
Meshiell D. Pablo. (2021). Utilization of virtual manipulatives in teaching fractions: inputs for development of self-instructional materials. Central Asian Journal of Theoretical and Applied Science, 2(1), 17-27. Retrieved from https://cajotas.centralasianstudies.org/index.php/CAJOTAS/article/view/52
Section
Articles