Year eight student, Sandra, completed the ‘Fractions and Decimals Interview’ on Monday, March 21. Sandra was required to complete a series of questions, which covered a range of concepts relating to rationale numbers. She submitted her answers in various different forms, including, orally, written, and, physically. The interview ranges from AusVELS Levels 5-8, and focus’ on assisting the student in developing and adjusting strategies, through mental calculations, and visual and written representations. The results from the interview allows pre-service teachers to “build a deep understanding of students’ thinking in mathematics, develop a detailed profile of student achievement, and, inform focused teaching” (Department of Education & Training, 2014). This report provides an evaluation and analysis of Sandra’s competency towards fractions and decimals according to the level eight AusVELS curriculum, with reference to the Fractions and Decimals Interview.
Sandra demonstrates an excellent fluency in simple fraction operations, however, she displays a moderate level of fluency in decimal operations. Sandra was capable of answering all questions in the required manner, although, she did need some questions to be repeated. Additionally, she
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She was able to distinguish and compare larger and smaller fraction pairs, and construct a sum with an appropriate explanation of how she created the sum. Although Sandra did display a change of solution when creating her sum, she was able to correct her answer after thinking about it. This demonstrates her brief understanding of the addition and subtraction component of fraction sums. Overall, Sandra demonstrates that she is competent in completing fraction operations consisting of various visual aids including fraction pies, pattern blocks, and shaded blocks, in addition to questions which involved only mental