Math Vocabulary: Fraction

When teaching math, there is the language of the student, the teacher, and THEN the language of mathematics. As we worked on this word study, we grappled with which definition to use as the math definition does not match that of the word study. As we dug into various definitions of a fraction using teacher and mathematics language, we were reminded of how ambiguous teaching fractions can be!
We tried picking a student-friendly definition of breaking a whole into equal parts but that doesn’t hold in math through many situations. By framing it as equal parts we leave out that sometimes they are NOT equal.
We don’t have to break a pizza into equal parts! One side can be fourths and the other sixths -- and that’s okay. 😉
So we opted for a broader, student-friendly definition that follows the morphology.
Fract - “to break”
Fraction - to break a whole into parts
This morphology is an entry point to teaching mathematics. Fractions are one of the most deceiving topics to teach because you THINK it will be cut and dry (see what we did there? 🤣) but it really isn’t. Students need multiple entry points and hands-on experiences to really grasp all the myriad ways that fractions work.
At its simplest definition, a fraction is a whole broken into parts.
What student-friendly language do you use to define a fraction?
Like this video? Check out our video on the word: Perimeter • Math Vocabulary: Perim...
Many students struggle with math vocabulary! In this video, we’ll be showing you the etymology/morphology of ‘perimeter’. Word study like this helps the brain remember the meaning of perimeter and its application in math!
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