1. Report on students rational number understandings (400 words).

Ashley is able to determine the size of an equal part of a whole through

counting the parts. When shown different sized parts of a whole, she was
able to conclude the size of a particular piece through comparing it to the
other pieces as well as the whole. When faced with a dot array and asked
what fraction of the set is black, she individually counted each dot,
however, in her final answer gave a simplified version. For example,
instead of saying 12/18 she said 2/3; she was then able to find another
fraction which is the same. This shows Ashley is able to simplify and find
equivalent fractions. When asked to place certain fractions on a number
line, she was able to place familiar fractions such as and , however,
when asked to place 3/5, 9/4 and 6/10 she attempted to use as a
benchmark as she knew these other fractions were more than one half but
was unable to find their correct positioning on the number line. This shows
that whilst she can find equivalent fractions when given a particular
fraction, she cannot identify two as being equivalent when they are in
front of her.

Ashley proved to be very competent in finding and using the common

denominator when adding and subtracting fractions. She was able to
produce two fractions which added up to less than 1 by using the same
denominator and 2 different numerators which added to less than the
denominator. Her proficiency in using the common denominator as a way
to solve problems with fractions was further demonstrated through finding
how many lots of one particular fraction go into another. For example,
Ashley was asked how many lots of 1/6 goes into , which equals 4 ,
which she solved by finding a common denominator for the two and
dividing to find the quotient. Ashley is confident in solving equations
involving one fraction and one whole number mentally. However, when
asked to solve equations involving 2 fractions she had increased difficulty,
especially when the sets of fractions had larger denominators, which
meant larger numbers for her to process without a visual cue.

Ashley had a general understanding of ratios, decimals and percentages;

and was able to use her understanding of measurement to label the levels
of water in a jug. She had a good understanding of place value, which was
portrayed through the ordering of a set of decimals containing one with
numbers up to the tenths place, one up to the hundredths place and one
up to the thousandths place. She understood that whilst the numbers
were longer, the pieces were getting smaller, which aided her in ordering
these correctly. However, she produced some difficulty in writing decimals
when given them in words.