Playing Fraction Track

The Role of the Teacher

Communication among Students

Reflecting on Practice

Mathematical games can foster mathematical communication as students explain and justify their moves to one another. In addition, games can motivate students and engage them in thinking about and applying concepts and skills. The first part of this example, Playing Fraction Track, contains an interactive version of a game (based on the work of Akers, Tierney, Evans, and Murray [1998]) that can be used in the grades 3–5 classroom to support students' learning about fractions. By working on this activity, students have opportunities to think about how fractions are related to a unit whole, compare fractional parts of a whole, and find equivalent fractions, as discussed in the Number and Operations Standard. In the second part, The Role of the Teacher, two video clips illustrate communication about mathematics among a teacher and her students. The third part, Communication among Students, shows how activities like this allow students to use communication as a tool to deepen their understanding of mathematics, as described in the Communication Standard. In this fourth part, Reflecting on Practice, the teacher reflects on her own mathematical learning that occurs as a result of using activities like this game with her fifth-grade students.