Pretext of 3rd Grade transcription: In order to listen to a third graders mathematical thinking, I borrowed a third grade student from

the afterschool program at Tully Knoles Elementary School. Her name is Laki, and her previous knowledge regarding math was unknown. I had decided to ask her a bit about fractions because I knew that students began learning fractions in this grade. Me (Ms. Borlik): The first question is, Do you know what a fraction is? Can you write a fraction for me? Laki: Okay. At this point she draws a circle fraction with four parts, and she colors in one part. She also writes the fraction next to it. Me: Wow, where did you learn to do this? (Prior to beginning our lesson Laki had told me that they had not done any fractions in third grade). Laki: Second Grade, Mrs. West showed me. Mostly I know one-fourth, one-third, one-second, and one-fifth. Me: Very good, I am surprised at what you know, so we are going to explore a little further, and I would like you to show me one-fourth with this. (Four Connecting cubes) Laki: She begins to take it apart. She puts one block on top of three others. She looks at it for a long period of time. Me: Can you tell me what you are thinking right now? Can you think out loud? Laki: I am making one-fourth. She plays with them for a long time and doesnt say anything. Me: Are you a little bit stuck? Laki: Looks at me like she is angry I am interrupting Me: How can I help you? Laki: I dont know but I am just trying to make one-fourth. I think if I had another block I can make one-fourth. Me: Oh, I see. I hand her another block. Now you have five blocks. Laki: She takes the blocks and then makes a visual representation of one-fourth by putting one block on top (in the imagined numerator) and four blocks on the bottom (in the imagined denominator). There. That is one-fourth. Me: Okay, interesting answer Laki. Remember when you drew me one-fourth on the blank paper. Can you show me why this is one-fourth? Laki: When you make a circle and you put two lines across the cupcake it makes four. Then you color in one part of the cupcake and that makes one-fourth, because in this cupcake if you ate it all you would eat the four of them that are there, but you are just eating one. Me: So if you eat one part of the cupcake, how many are left? Laki: very promptly answered, Three. Me: Interesting. So when you made this with the blocks, you said one-fourth was this I held up the one and there where how many left? Laki: Four. Me: do you still agree with what you have there? Laki: Yes Me: When you have a fraction you are showing a part of something, like a part of your cupcake, right? Laki: Yes Me: So how would you show one part of these four blocks? Laki: If you would have one block, you would put it on top, and if you had a line of paper, you would put it under it. Then if you had four blocks, you would put them on the bottom. Me: I am going to take back this one block, and I only want you to use four. Point to one-fourth of the blocks. Laki: It would be just..hmmmm It would be just ummmm. Me: If we look back at your cupcake here, how many parts do we have?

Laki: Four Me: If we look at this line of blocks, how many parts do we have? Laki: Four Me: Okay, good. So you have four parts here (referring to the circle) and four parts here (referring to the blocks). You showed me one-fourth on this circle by coloring one of four parts. Can you point to one part of the four on the blocks? Laki: She points to one out of the four blocks. Me: Great. So we saw that this (referring to on the circle) was one out of four and now we see that this (referring to the she is pointing at) is one out of.. Laki: Three. Me: If we go back to the circle where we had one out of four, did we still count the shaded in piece as one of the four? Laki: Yes. Ohhhhh, so the blocks have four too. This is one OUT of all four. One-fourth. Me: Wow, I am surprised at how much you know about fractions, even if you havent learned them this year yet. Me: So I have one more question for you, You made a one-fourth, so can you make a one-third? Laki: Draws a fraction that looks very similar to her circle fraction of 1/4 . Me: Very good. Can you tell me which one of 1/3 or is bigger? Laki: . As she studies the circle fractions. If this (one-third) has bigger sizes.WAIT! Let me change my mind to 1/3 as the bigger one. The pieces are bigger. There is more shaded in. Me: Laki, I really like how you kept thinking about the problem, even when you had an answer. I cant wait to have you in fifth grade. Keep working hard, and thanks for coming.

Observations:

Laki has a solid start on her learning of fractions. She was able to show me a model of . When I had asked her to show me one-fourth of four blocks, Laki wanted to make one-fourth as a visual representation of the literal written fraction, with one on top, a strip of paper in between, and a four on the bottom. While she was able to find one-fourth of a circle, she struggled with the fraction block model. I also observed that she referred to the fraction circle (that she had drawn) as a cupcake on numerous occasions. At this point, she may only understand the cupcake as a unit.

Conclusions:

As I look back on the time I spent with Laki, I think that maybe when she was struggling with finding of the blocks I should have rearranged the blocks into a quad, and seen if she could find one-

fourth? She was able to find of a circle, so maybe this would have been a stepping-stone for using this new model. I also think that because of Lakis need to refer to her circle as a cupcake, and her misunderstanding of the four blocks as one unit, that maybe Laki did not have a clear understanding of the importance of recognizing a units connection to the fractions. On the landscape of learning, Laki was able to use landmark fractions, but only for certain models. She was not clear on the relationship the denominator had with the whole unit. In order for her to be able to make fractional pieces for varying models, her understanding of unit has to be strengthened.