- Summary
- Contents
Any way you slice it, fractions are foundational
Many students struggle with fractions and must understand them before learning higher-level math. Veteran educator David B. Spangler provides research-based tools that are aligned with NCTM and Common Core State Standards. He describes powerful diagnostic methods for error analysis that pinpoint specific student misconceptions and supplies specific intervention strategies and activities for each error pattern. Also included are tools for analyzing student work and providing timely, specific, and meaningful interventions within an RTI framework. The targeted interventions for each error pattern promote teaching for conceptual understanding and are supported by documented academic research. Practical materials include: Reproducibles for diagnostic tests; Practice pages for exercises keyed to the diagnostic tests and error patterns; Pages for practicing alternative algorithms and ...
A Look at the Academic Research: Intervention in the Mathematics Classroom
Big Ideas in Fractions and Problem Solving
- Fraction Concepts and Fraction Computation 22
- Actions and Operations: Problem Structures for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division 24
- Questions for Teacher Reflection 33
Fraction Concepts and Fraction Computation

The following “big ideas” underpin much of the intervention work that is developed in this book.
Fraction Concepts
- A fraction describes the division of a unit whole into equal parts. The unit whole may be a region, a set of objects, or a portion of a line segment.
- A rational number is a number that can be written as a quotient
, where a and b are integers, b ≠ 0. A number such as
is both a fraction and a rational number. A whole number, such as 4, ...