The square and the rectangle are particularly useful areas because they are easy to subdivide and to shade. The circle is explored because of its use in data analysis and probability. They investigate a 100-square grid and explore how it could continue to be subdivided to show 1,000 parts or 10,000 parts. The process will continue to help students understand equivalence of fraction and equivalence of decimals as well as to see the connections between fractions and decimals. This investigation proposes a situation in which fractions with denominators larger than students fraction strips show must be compared.
Students find decimal estimates for fractions using the visual model.
They are asked to consider whether fractions or decimals are easier to compare. Sharing is used as a context to motivate the division interpretation of fractions, leading to a strategy for changing a fraction into a decimal. Calculators are used to do the computation, providing additional evidence that the division interpretation as a way to find decimal equivalents makes sense. By this time, students should feel comfortable with the meaning of fractions and decimals and be able to move back and forth between the two. Percents are now introduced as another form of representation.