Can Kindergartners do fractions?
Landri Wienecke
Math 3303
Julie Cwikla. (2014). Can Kindergartners Do Fractions?. Teaching Children Mathematics, 20(6),
354-364.http://doi.org/10.5951/teacchilmath.20.6.0354
Can Kindergartners Do Fractions?
Julie Cwikla
Do prekindergarten students describing and illustrating their attempts at fair-sharing tasks exhibit a spontaneous understanding of fractions prior to formal instruction? This researcher shares her findings.
This article is very interesting. The article came about when Julie Cwikla wanted to investigate children’s understanding and make observations about the precurricular partitioning nations that children bring to our attention. The observation was taken over 3 year 8 month olds to 6 years and 6 month olds. During this study Cwikla also observed that levels
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The main topic that I thought was interesting is the mathematical language that they use in the experiment. In using the correct mathematical language the three students Ashley, Olivia, and Tyler were all able to show the problem they were being asked by drawing it out. They had a hard time with explaining it verbally. Giving the students the ability to have the freedom to draw the picture on their own gives them the ability to have a better understanding of the problem. I also agree with Cwikla when she tells about the precurricular understanding. In this she states you as a teacher should encourage the children to include mixed numbers and be able to carry on a conversation about the problem given. The younger students were able to look at a picture and tell what was going on in the picture and tell the observer what they can see. Most were able to identify the fraction and tell that there were some left over and some were being taken away. The younger students were also able to use more mathematical language than the older