Dividing the Pizza

Teacher's tips

Level of education: Elementary School

Age: 09 to 12 years old

Fractions are always a delicate point in teaching Mathematics. The content begins to be worked on in the early years of Basic Education and if it is not worked on in a significant way, it can generate doubts in the more advanced grades, such as fundamental II high school. usually

Far beyond representing the parts of a whole, fractions relate to other types of problems, such as division and the relationship between quantities. This game brings an excellent proposal for math classes, providing the understanding and reflection of the concepts that involve the fraction.

Learner outcomes

Play, simulating the symbolic game (real life);

Systematize ways of registering fractions;

Stimulate mathematical logical reasoning;

Solving problem situations with everyday situations;

Understand and recognize that it is necessary to use other numbers, and also drawings, in situations where natural numbers are not sufficient to demonstrate the result of a division;

Understand the representations of fractions through games;

Establish relations between division and fraction;

Fix knowledge acquired in the classroom;

Teachers' goals

Work on difficulties presented by students in relation to the use of fractions;

Develop logical-mathematical reasoning and construction of the concept of number through play;

Stimulate the taste for Mathematics, through playful and pleasurable activities;

Reinforce content worked in the classroom;

Stimulate the exchange of knowledge, socialization and interaction among students;

Facilitate the understanding of the concept of fraction, through playful and interactive proposals;

Offer subsidies for the student to establish comparisons between fractions regarding equivalence and inequality in relation to the whole;

Suggestions of approaches for the teacher

(Suggestion 1) Propose the game in pairs, as the children will have to interact to find out which is the right answer. During the games, it is important for the children to exchange ideas and knowledge in order to reach a conclusion for each proposal. When proposing the plays in pairs, it is important to be aware of the division of the class, determining the pairs appropriately, according to the teacher's objectives.

It is important to highlight what each student masters and what they need to learn, in order to divide the class into productive pairs. Students with similar, but different skills, can find in this proposal the chance to expand their knowledge, individually, and grow together.

As a record, ask students to write on a piece of paper all the fractions that appear in the moves. Then, in the classroom or at home, ask them to represent each noted fraction with drawings.

(Suggestion 2) Use TAMGRAM

(Suggestion 3) Propose the execution of a cooking recipe using fractions.

(Suggestion 4) Set up some problem situations for your students to try to solve on their own. To solve this problem, cut several paper circles of the same diameter and give them to the students. Ask them to use these circles to represent, for example, how many pieces of cake Peter's family ate.

More about the content

To start working with fractions, here is a suggestion for working with concrete material, helping children understand the concept of fractions:

In Art class, propose making a paper pizza, about 20 cm in diameter. In Math class, ask the children to divide the pizza into 12 equal pieces using a ruler and pencil.

Phases:

1. Each student must count how many pieces his pizza has, forming the whole.

2. Ask everyone to take the scissors and divide their pizza in half and then divide it into 12 parts.

3. Work on notions of equivalence (1/2 equals 6/12, for example). Make the activity more difficult, asking for the equivalent in pieces of the pizza for 1/3, 1/4, 1/6.

4. Ask students to divide their pizzas into different sizes (1/2, 1/3, 3/4, etc.) and then ask them to compare the sizes with their classmates. That way, they'll figure out which one is bigger.

5. Also work on notions of adding fractions. If we add 1/4 of the pizza to 1/2 of the pizza, how many pieces will we have? How will this sum be represented numerically?

6. That done, ask 12 students to deliver 1 piece to the teacher and assemble the whole pizza. They will realize that, with each piece received, the numerator changes - but the denominator remains the same (12).

7. Once this concept is well worked out, ask a few more (three or four) students to hand you a piece. Thus, we will have a situation where the numerator becomes greater than the denominator. It will be easy for students to see that this is possible, as it is possible to have more than one pizza at the same time.