Fun and Flexible Fractions....
We just opened up a box of these Flexitables today and had some fun manipulating them. Basically, the Flexitable is a thin grid that has vertical and horizontal channels molded into soft PVC plastic--it feels like a shower curtain (and kind of smells like one, too!). You fold and unfold again and again to find equivalent fractions--decimals are printed on the other side.
For example, if you ask a student, "Your answer is 6/10. Is there any way to simplify that, by showing it with a smaller denominator? Check your Flexitable!" The student would fold the table until only six of the 1/10 squares showed on the grid. Looking up the grid, they would see that folding the table that way left exactly three of the 1/5 squares. So, 6/10 = 3/5!
This gives students a chance to get a solid conceptual basis before moving to the symbolic level, as well as helps the students to review the concepts when they are in the symbolic level.
If you're interested in getting your hands on some, run an Internet search on the name of the product, "Fractions & Decimals Flexitable." Many vendors have them, generally for around $6.
Here's Mona in the process of making a homemade version--AT creation in action!
Comments
I just discovered that you can make your own flexitable using soft packing wrap. We got a whole bunch of this wrapped around furniture that was delivered to our office. With a small exacto knife and a ruler I was able to create a table free of charge!!
Posted by: Mona | June 12, 2006 9:33 AM
I just finished making the flexitable using the soft packing wrap. It took a lot longer than I predicted. You need to be real precise when mesuring each section. The actual cutting was the easiest part. You would really need to consider if your time was worth the cost of buying a flexitable. All in all it took me about an hour to complete.
Posted by: Mona | June 12, 2006 2:03 PM
Sounds like a great idea. I'll definitely try this in my classroom starting in the fall.
Posted by: Virginia Maloney | July 21, 2006 11:36 AM