Free Essay About Mathematics Tutoring Analysis

This tutoring session took place on [INSERT DATE HERE]. It covered basic fractions.

Objectives

Help the child learn to do basic addition with fractions that have the same denominator. The function of this session will be to ensure that children are grasping the basic concepts of fractions while practicing the basic operations of adding fractions together. The word problem is as follows: A chocolate bar is split into 12 equal pieces. Ana eats 4 of the pieces, and you eat 6. What fraction of the chocolate did Ana eat? What fraction of the chocolate did you eat? What fraction of the chocolate did you eat together? Did you eat the whole chocolate bar?

Activities

The first step in this session was ensuring that the student remembered how to form fractions. Using the fraction bar teaching materials from previous lessons that introduced fraction formation, I asked the children to form fractions like12, 23, 58, and so on.
I wrote a number of fractions on the board, and the students were asked to determine which fraction is equal to 1, and which fractions were “improper” by circling fractions that were equal to 1 and putting x’s through fractions that were improper.
The student was then given the assignment, and was asked to read only the first part of the question: “A chocolate bar is split into 12 equal pieces. Ana eats 4 of the pieces, and you eat 6. What fraction of the chocolate did Ana eat?” The child quite easily determined that Ana ate 412 pieces of chocolate. The process was repeated with the second part of the question, and again the child quite easily determined that they had eaten 612 pieces of chocolate.
The child then used the fraction bars to create these two fractions. I explained that to find out how many pieces were eaten all together, we must add the numerator and leave the denominator the same because we are not creating more chocolate. The child seemed to understand, so I asked the child how many pieces were eaten all together; the child correctly answered 1012.
I then asked the child whether this answer was greater or less than one, and coached the child on determining whether a fraction is less than or greater than one.

Assignment

There are 8 slices of pizza. You eat two, Caitie eats one, and James eats two. What fraction of the pizza did you eat? What about Caitie? What fraction did James eat? What fraction of the pizza did you all eat together?With some coaching, the child was able to reach the correct answer again, including the extra step of adding a third fraction.

Reflection

When your student is confronted with a problem to solve, how does she/he start? Does she/he read the problem?

The child began by reading the problem and putting the words into numerical notation.

• Does she/he write things down? Can she/he explain the problem in her/his own words?
The student could easily write down fractions that were given to them verbally as well, which shows a good grasp of the conceptual idea of fractions.

• What problem-solving strategies is she/he comfortable using? Give examples.

The student is still reliant on visual cues to properly solve fraction problems, but again, this is not problematic for this level of competency; indeed, the student reacted well to the extra twists thrown into the assignment problem, and was able to continue their learning process with minimal instruction, only prompting.
• Does she/he have "operation sense"? For instance, can she/he identify an addition situation in contrast to a division situation? For instance, does she/he know that to count she/he must identify distinct objects and to measure she/he must compare another object?
The child showed great retention of previous lessons, and demonstrated a good understanding of the process of fractions. Sometimes the concept of adding the numerators together but leaving the denominators the same can be problematic for children, but this student was able to determine the right thing to do. The student relied slightly on the fraction tools that were introduced when the concept of fractions were introduced, but that’s expected for this age and level of competency; the student showed good awareness of number theory and the operational sense of adding pieces together to make a whole.
• Does she/he have “number sense”? For instance, does she/he know that two-fifths is smaller than one-half? Does she/he know that fourteen is less than sixteen? • What representations does she/he use to make sense of the problems? Does she/he draw a picture? Make a table? Make a sketch? Experiment with the numbers? Use tools or manipulatives?
The child had two separate opportunities to do the work alone, and the instructor was consistent in the teaching of fraction notation. The student showed good number sense with fractions as well, easily identifying large and small fractions.The instructor was prepared for any misconceptions about fractions—these problems were anticipated and overcome using physical tools for solving problems. The child wrote down the fractions that were necessary and used the board. The student also used fraction tools.