Teacher report on your students Rational Number Knowledge and any

misconceptions (303 words)

Casey demonstrates that she can successfully interpret fractions on area and set
models, correctly identifying particular parts in the context of the whole. However
Casey had difficulty thinking of multiple ways to name equivalent fractions, such
as not recognizing 12/18 could be expressed as 4/6.
Casey is capable of creating a whole and recognizing a whole within a larger
shape such as marking 4/3, however Casey has errors in identifying improper
fractions on a length model for example as 1 being identified as 2.
Casey is capable of creating a number line (0-1) and identifying familiar fractions
such as 2/3, however errors in identifying improper fractions on models are again
apparent when locating improper fractions such as eleven sixths on the number
line.
Casey can recognise and understand the idea of partitioning a whole for sharing,
however there is a lack of understanding of the divisive aspect of doing so, for
example sharing 3 pizzas amongst 5 people and allocating 2/5 to each person.
Casey recognises that the numerator and denominator are not seen as separate
numbers, as demonstrated in her thinking behind constructing a sum equal to
almost a whole when seeing 4/5 as almost a whole and 1/7 a small part of a whole.
However, a misconception in Caseys thinking lies in being capable of comparing
the size of two fractions by looking at the amount of parts each is made up of,
such as identifying 5/6 to be smaller than 7/8.
In regards to decimals Casey has some misconceptions about place value, for
example labeling 27 thousandths as .0027 and often identifying numbers with
larger place value being larger, such as 0.123 being larger than 0.9.
Casey is successfully capable of estimating by using benchmarking, for example
estimating 0.34 to be smaller than half because it is smaller than 0.50.