The Lesson Study Group

Surface different ideas about teaching and learning

Team members share different ideas about how to begin the study of fractions, articulating why and how hands-on exploration and multiple representations might be valuable. They wrestle with how to connect these ideas to the unit’s mathematical goal–understanding that the size of a fraction depends on the size of the whole.

Anticipate student thinking

Teachers have read a measurement progression that includes measurement with non-standard units to build understanding of the value of standard measurement units. Teachers share ideas about what their students currently understand about measurement.   Review the NAEP task and 2nd-grade task teachers reference before watching the clip.

Consider unit design

In this clip, teachers focus on the measurement tasks that will support fractions learning, in thinking about overall unit design. One teacher shares about the importance of measurement flexibility, how it develops and how it might change her prior rigidity in teaching fractions.

Develop a theory of action

In this clip, teachers discuss their theory of action to support authentic student collaboration and accountable talk: If we as teachers do “blank” then students will do “blank.” Teachers conclude that if they want to get students to collaborate mathematically (not just use sentence frames) they need to focus on conceptual explanations, not just procedural explanations  – (what did you do?)

Refine learning goals for students

Teachers surface their learning goals for students. These include understanding the size of the numerator and denominator, equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, representing fractions on a number line, and understanding the whole. One teacher reads from the Teacher’s Edition for Primary Math International: “[Students] will understand that when 1 is partitioned into d equal parts, each part is written as 1/d, and when a set of n unit fractions is combined, the new fraction is expressed n/d.”

The team continues to discuss the importance of student understanding of the whole, specifically for their research lesson which focuses on the problem: Ms. Ashley’s jump was ¼ of 2 meters. My jump was ¼ of a meter. Which jump was longer?

* Primary Math International, Grade 3 Teacher’s Edition. Chicago: Japan Math Corporation, p. 299.