Ms Thompson and Mrs Baumann’s 3/4 class have been using the Back to Front Maths teaching approach to investigate Fractions.
The teachers have been involved in several T&D sessions facilitated by Tierney Kennedy which has provided us with ongoing support and resources to improve students’ mathematical understanding. Back to Front Maths “gets the students to think hard and explore new concepts before the teacher gives the formal explanations. This helps the maths to stick better, builds new connections in the brain and significantly improves student results as well as making maths much more engaging.”
(https://www.backtofrontmaths.com.au/the-australian-curriculum/about-back-to-front-maths) The students began investigating what fractions look like in the real world and created their own description of what a fraction is.
A Fraction is…
Something split evenly. —Ivy
Where something is split or like this ½. It’s also where something is split in half and quarters and eighths. Fractions can sometimes be shapes you can divide. —Mia
Something that is always even. —Harry
The students had some challenges which pushed them to do some hard thinking and then record this to justify their answers.
Students have begun to compare equivalent fractions and will soon be making connections with decimals.
