Obstacle Course

Summary

Students will understand how fractions are partitioned from a whole, and how to place fractions on a number line.

Materials

• paper or graph paper
• pencil
• ruler
• markers

A document camera or chart paper can be used for students to draw and explain their obstacle course in fractions of the whole.

Background for Teachers

Teachers need to have a firm foundation for the building of a fraction. This can be found in the progressions document for fractions.

Student Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to draw a number line and break it evenly into parts of the whole. Students should be able to understand the denominators; 2, 3, 4, 6, & 8 and know that the number denominator stands for the number of parts the whole is broken up into.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students should be able to explain what fraction of the obstacle course is made from different activities.

Mathematical Practice #1 - Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Mathematical Practice #7 - Look for and make use of structure.

Instructional Procedures

In this task, students will use what they know to create an obstacle course using a number line and fractions.

Task:
Our class is in charge of creating an obstacle course. A fraction of the course will be designed for running. Another fraction of the course will be obstacles. There must be at least 3 different obstacles in the course. Design your own obstacle course and label what fraction of the course is running and what fraction fo the course is obstacles.

Ask for any questions Explain what an obstacle course is and have students make a list of different obstacle options.

Questions that may be asked (without giving the answer to student questions:)

• Explain to me...
• How do you know...
• Are there any tools that can help you figure this out?
• How did you determine equal parts?
• What have you discovered?
• What other choices do you have?
• How is these similar?
• How can you find that answer?

Once students have completed their task, have them share with their partners, tables. What denominators were used? What does that mean? How do you know the sections are equal?

Strategies for Diverse Learners

The struggling learner: Remind them not to over-think, but follow the simple guidelines. Begin with a simple fraction. If there are two parts of the course how many equal sections would it be broken into? One half of the course needs 3 obstacles. What would you do next?

For the advanced learner - ask: Is there another way to show that? How do you know? What have you discovered? How are they similar? How are they different? What do find difficult or challenging? Describe... Explain.... Tell..... List....

Bibliography

• Adapted from: Smith, Margaret Schwan, Victoria Bill, and Elizabeth K. Hughes. "Thinking Through a Lesson Protocol: Successfully Implementing High-Level Tasks."
• Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School 14 (October 2008): 132-138