Why are fractions important for further math proficiency?
The reality is you could probably get through mathematics, albeit with extreme difficulty, without a total mastery of fractions. But as a student moves up through the grades and comes to an algebraic fraction like x+3 over 7, if that student didn’t grasp earlier that whole notion of ratio, or relationship between parts and the whole, they’ll be hard pressed to understand how to approach that problem. Not impossible, but hard pressed. I think the [National Math] Panel was right to put their finger on the fact that in the upper elementary grades we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to teach kids about fractions, and we need to do it better. And it has to do with helping children and teachers have multiple ways to represent and understand fractions. It’s a challenge for teachers when older students don’t have a good grasp of fractions. There are no shortcuts, and students need to learn all the core concepts. But one thing that teachers can do to help these older students is to fin
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