To develop a sound understanding of fractions, students need to explore the various meanings for fractions, as explained in Big Ideas, and the ways in which they can be represented. Emphasis should be placed on developing a deep conceptual understanding of fractions, rather than relying on learned procedures or rules.
Effective assessment of student thinking informs good teaching, and helps to identify misunderstandings that need to be addressed through instruction.
Many of the key understandings have been grouped together under the four topics of fraction sense, dividing, equivalence and addition and subtraction. The information and student activities have been designed to support the development of reliable strategies for working with fractions, as students gradually move towards achieving proportional reasoning.
