This is a plan which shows what is necessary for effective learning in 3-5 grade level students. This paper highlights key learning targets and activities with a focus on number and operations fractions domain. It also details the planning and instruction activities which are supported by the IES Practice Guide. Since every lesson stands some risks, this looks at some of the potential issues which may arise in delivering the lessons before offering recommendations on how to promote conceptual learning among students.
Learning Target and Activities
There are several targets, in this case, major among them making students understand mathematical concepts. Beyond these concepts, the focus shall be on assisting students to understand various concepts about area, length, and volume. This will take on an environment where they can relate to what they are studying. At the end of the lessons, students should be able to master and execute some mathematical concepts without help. For instance, adding fractions, calculating area and volume among many other things.
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Failure to learn fractions is a major issue in education ( Siegler, Fazio, Bailey, & Zhou, 2013) . Students who don’t learn it sufficiently at lower levels experience problems in mathematics later on. The first activity is teaching students the concept of sharing and proportionality to develop initial fractions. The first step should be to test their understanding of whole numbers. The teacher can bring some items and tell students to divide them, the state what each has. If there are 20 fruits divided by four, each student will have five. After students understand that, the next move is to have one fruit being divided between two students. That will demonstrate the concept of half as a fraction. The teaching can continue demonstrating that to introduce a quarter, an eighth and so forth. That will make the learners grasp the concept of fractions. Additionally, the teacher can take the pieces and add, subtract, and even multiply to make students learn about those basic operations.
The next activity after understanding basic operations shall be introducing area and similar set operations. Other than using fruits to demonstrate the concept of fractions, the teachers could have well used a string and length for the same. If the string is cut or deformed to form some shape like a rectangle, square or even triangle, which can be used to demonstrate the idea of the area. The instructor should do these activities in a practical way as learners tend to master that faster than when teaching abstractly. The activities mentioned above are enough to achieve the learning targets.
Planning and Instruction
This lesson plan is designed for three to four students. That means whatever shall be provided to learn concepts about length, area and sets shall consider the number of participants. Teaching the same in the classroom can be great, but considering the number of learners, it is possible to have them doing their work even from outside the class. Outside the class, they will experience a more interactive environment and will be able to master things faster than in a classroom setting.
The planning and practice will take into account what is recommended by the IES Practice Guide. The recommendations are five in total, with each aiming to improve the student’s mathematical skills. The recommendations are helping students form initial fractions, helping them recognize such fractions, helping students understand procedures used in computation, promote conceptual understanding and finally helping teachers understand fractions and how to teach them (Siegler et al, 2010). Adherence to these recommendations is essential in each lesson plan, irrespective of the activity which is required to aid learning.
Potential Issues
There are some potential problems, but with effective planning, most can be avoided. The first possible problem is having insufficient resources. Teaching can be hectic especially when students are not following instructions. They can have strings and next time destroy all, meaning the teacher won’t have materials to continue with the lesson. Or a connection with other lessons is also a potential problem. Students should learn sequentially, form the least complex towards more complex ones. Other issues are failing to meet objectives within the specified period. Balancing the different needs of the students can also be challenging, same as helping students meet long-term goals. These are some of the issues likely to come up while offering the course.
Promoting Conceptual Learning
There are several questions in mathematics which can be used to promote conceptual learning. The following are five questions which would effectively promote students understanding of fractions (Smith et al, 2009).
How do you divide this circle into halves?
What is half of half of this circle?
How do you make a sixth of this circle?
How do you combine different pieces of a circle to make a full circle?
How many a quarter pieces of a circle do you need to make one complete circle?
These are not complex questions, but a set of related questions which are used to promote student understanding of fractions.
Conclusion
Lesson plans must take into account every aspect o ensure students understand what is being taught. It should detail targets, activities and explain how they meet the required standards. It is important to highlight possible challenges are that would aid in finding solutions, something which has been highlighted here.
References
College of Education. Lesson Template
Smith, M. S., Hughes, E. K., Engle, R. A., & Stein, M. K. (2009). Orchestrating discussions of challenging tasks: Keeping your eye on the mathematics to be learned. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School , 14 (9), 548-556.
Siegler, R. S., Fazio, L. K., Bailey, D. H., & Zhou, X. (2013). Fractions: The new frontier for theories of numerical development. Trends in cognitive sciences , 17 (1), 13-19.
Siegler, R. S., Carpenter, T., Fennell, F., Geary, D. C., Lewis, J., Okamoto, Y., ... & Wray, J. (2010). Developing effective fractions instruction for kindergarten through 8th grade.
