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Teaching Fractions with

Understanding: Part-whole
Concept
Stage: 1, 2 and 3

Article by primary team

In her studies of children learning about rational numbers, Grace LopezCharles [see Note 1 below] has identified some different perspectives
through which children see fractions. This article starts looking at some of
those perspectives, firstly by considering what happens in situations where
learners are trying to create equal shares. From sharing using halves
learners move to partitioning using other divisions, such as fifths or sixths.
This results in the need to develop understandings of equivalence which is
discussed in the second section of this article. Finally, we look at some ways
of teaching fractions more effectively that arise from Grace's work.

Equal shares

Working with halves

This strategy appears to be based upon halves because children are
confident with this concept. This approach is more common among younger
children, although in her studies Grace has seen many children between the
ages of 7 and 10 adopting it too. Using this method, the child starts by
splitting each region or composite unit into two parts. So, sharing three
chocolate bars between four children would be achieved by first halving all
the bars. In this case four of the halves can be shared with one whole bar
(two halves) remaining. The parts of the third bar are halved again and can
now be shared. If a fair share was not possible at this point further halving
would take place. At this point a teacher might ask the child "How much has
each person got?" and in offering a description the child might reply "Two"
because they are counting fragments rather than seeing the equal share as
part of a whole.
Stuck on counting
In fragmenting the child treats the parts as individual unit items. So, when
asked to determine what share each child will receive if three chocolate bars
are shared equally among four children, some 7 year-olds would respond

that a child receives two. No conceptual distinction is being made between

the 'two' as in number of pieces and the 'two' pieces as fractions of each
unit, or the whole (three bars) that is being shared. These children are
aware of the fragments as only individual unit items. The complexity here is
also whether the 'whole' refers to the individual bars, in which case each
child gets three-quarters of the bar, or the 'whole' refers to the three bars.
In this latter case the answer would be "A quarter of the chocolate". Here a
teacher would be trying to emphasise that we cannot always successfully
describe quantity by counting. It would be necessary for portions to be equal
in size for counting to offer a way forward.

Partitioning
Even young children can partition regions or composite units approximately
equally among two or three recipients. The older, more mathematicallymature child can partition the region into x number of parts and then
designate y of the parts to indicate yx where x is greater than 2.
For example: 8 year-old children were asked to divide a rectangle into eight
pieces and then colour two of the pieces red in a diagram similar to the one
below.

The issue here becomes one of equivalence. Grace found that when learners
are asked what fraction is unshaded they would say 68. No children in the
research identified the coloured part as being 14 of the whole or the
uncoloured part as 34. This highlights a question for teachers about how
they might raise awareness of those equivalences. This might be achieved
through questions inviting learners to describe the same fraction in different
ways or by identifying problems with equal answers. For example, in the
latter case, sharing 6 bars of chocolate between 8 will result in the same
amount of chocolate each as sharing 3 bars between 4. "Could you get the
same answer in a different way?"
In seeing the fraction as a partition and identifying what is the same and
what is different about 34 and 68 learners begin to see the fraction as a
comparison between the numerator and the denominator (what Grace calls

one-to-many or many-to-many comparison). This is based on a ratio concept

and Grace argues it also indicates a deeper understanding of fractions. As in
the previous example, a child indicating that the uncoloured fraction of the
square is three-quarters, is simplifying the denominator and numerator to
give an equivalent fraction, without losing the value of the fraction, though
some information is lost.
What impact might this have on how we teach children to understand
fractions better?

Ideas for teaching fractions

When teaching fractions in schools, the emphasis is often on situations
where the object can easily be cut, folded, split or coloured in equal parts.
Although there is some need for this sort of activity, children should be
exposed to a wide variety of situations, some where such folding or splitting
strategies will not be successful. In experiencing a variety of situations
where fractions can be found, learners will have the opportunity to reflect
and abstract critical relations in different contextual situations. In other
words, children must see a whole in all its representational forms. This will
aid them in developing a more robust grasp of the concept of a fraction.
Grace describes some of these situations in terms of properties of being
discrete or continuous, definite or indefinite (see below). Thus the aim is to
engage in working in situations that offer opportunities to explore fractions
in each of these situations.
Discrete wholes - sweets, marbles, cherries, beads etc.
Continuous wholes - cakes, chocolate bars, pizzas etc.
Definite wholes - where the extent of the whole is clear, for example:

Indefinite wholes - where the extent of the whole is not clear, for example
we do not know how long the pattern extends in either direction in the
image below:

In developing a sound understanding of the part-whole concept of fractions,

it is necessary for teachers to present situations of fair sharing, where the
child is expected to reason out the consequences of different actions. For
example with the very young, it might be necessary to begin with a numberfree approach;

Show the children some sweets; question them:- Do you think I have
enough sweets that each child will get one sweet?; What will happen if
I cut each sweet in half?; Will more or less children get sweets?

Encourage the children to make meaningful comparisons e.g. '3 pizzas,

4 children', 'does everyone get more or less than half of a pizza? Does
everyone get more or less than a whole pizza?'

By presenting the problem qualitatively, teachers are able to generate useful

discussions that will encourage the children to use, question and develop
their own approaches.
The types of items a teacher sets for individual or group activities should be
geared towards developing the fraction concept with the purpose of
overcoming some of their difficulties with fractions. By presenting the
children with wholes, which are not explicitly divided into equal parts, they
are encouraged to analyse the part-whole relationship.
For example:
For each figure, write the fraction shown:
(a)What fraction is K?
(b)What fraction of the figure is not coloured?
(c)What fraction of the whole is missing?

Where there is an explicit division of a whole into equal parts, children are
able to determine the fraction of the part/parts indicated by counting the
number of parts in the whole and the number of parts indicated (double
counting). In the figures presented above, it is more difficult for the children

to adopt this 'partitioning' approach. Children are required to analyse the

relationship of the particular part/parts indicated in relation to the entire
whole.
Fractions taught as a part-whole concept, in the manner indicated in this
article, can ensure that children have a sound foundation for conceptualising
other concepts in fractions. However, it must be noted that despite the
wealth of possible examples, an approach to fractions based solely on "partwhole" is too restricted - yielding proper fractions only. Therefore other
concepts of fractions need to be explored if children are to have a fuller and
better understanding of rational numbers.
Note 1: This article is based on research by Grace Lopez-Charles Assessment of Children's Understanding of Rational Numbers - PhD
Thesis.

References:
1. Azis, N & Pa, N (1991), Primary school pupils' knowledge of fractions,
Journal for Research in Education, 45
2. Nunes, T., (1996), Understanding rational numbers, in T. Nunes and
P.E. Bryant (eds.): Children Doing Mathematics. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers.
3. Streefland, L. (1996), Charming fractions or fractions being charmed?
In T. Nunes and P.E. Bryant (eds.): How Do Children Learn
Mathematics? Hove: Erlbaum.