This CLiL unit approaches students to the use of fractions in a real-world context by changing rations of ingredients for cooking. For this purpose, students will manipulate and play with fractions in an interactive way by using ICT resources, such as Scratch, Kahoot or Exe-learning, and they will learn playing and having fun. However, the activities can be adapted if you do not have or cannot use ICT resources. Moreover, with these activities, students will collaborate and help the others in their learning, while they will be improving their language skills in English. Finally, being fractions universal mathematical operations, this learning object may be easily adapted to some other languages (e.g. Valencian, Basque, French, etc.).
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About the unit
Managing fractions is very important in every area of our daily lives but, specifically when someone buys some food at the market or follows a cooking recipe in a foreign country or using a foreign language.
In order to achieve this important aim, in this document I present a CLiL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) unit named Cooking fractions. This unit will help our students to learn about fractions while they’re using English as a working language.
This CLIL unit is proposed to the sixth course of primary education and it’s based on fractions learning, from what equivalent fractions are to how to operate with them. So, with this unit, we’ll involve all the contents of fractions that we must achieve at the end of the primary school, summarizing and recapping the previous learning, as well as adding the new issues of grade 6.
For those, it’s important to have in mind the level of English of our students too, because, if not, they won’t be able to achieve these contents owing to misunderstanding of the language. So, the activities of this CLiL unit have been design taking into account the A2 level of English established by the Common European Framework of References of Languages (CEFRL). If you’d like to use this unit with students that don’t have the same level, it’s possible that you may have to adapt it.
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Content
This CLiL unit (Cooking fractions) is aimed to achieve the following mathematic contents established by the regional government curriculum:
Equivalent fractions, to reduce two fractions to a common denominator by using the multiplication tables (without making use numbers above 100) to compare them.
Addition and subtraction of fractions.
Multiplication of a fraction by a number.
Obtaining the first multiples of a number. Particularly, the least common multiple of two numbers.
In order to make it easier for the students, these contents have been sequenced and organized in different sessions. So, the contents of these unit follow the below sequence:
Equivalent fractions by using visual support and pictorial representations.
Equivalent fractions by reducing two fractions to a common denominator with the least common multiple.
Addition and subtraction of fractions.
Multiplication of a fraction by a number.
Furthermore, this unit include culture contents too, like to follow instructions of a cooking recipe and to bake cookies. So, it’s a CLiL unit that embodies cross-curricular learning and contents that are important for our students and will give to this unit a familiar and more realistic context.
The main contents of this CLiL unit are:
Fraction
A fraction represents a part of a whole that is divided in any number of equal parts. Mathematically, it is written a/b, being a and b natural numbers, like those in the following example: 1/4. It can be represented with images too:
Numerator
The numerator is the number located above the division line. It shows the number of equal parts that the fraction represents of the whole parts. Above, in the example, the numerator is the number 1 of 1/4.
Denominator
The denominator is the number located below the division line. It shows the number of equal parts in which the whole is divided. Above, in the example, the denominator is the number 4 of 1/4.
Least Common Multiple
The least common multiple is used to add or subtract fractions with different denominator, because it allows to unify the denominators of those fractions creating another one new. To calculate it, it is used the smallest number that two or more numbers have in common. Let’s clarify it with an example:
1/4+2/6= ?
4 and 6 are different denominators, so we need to use the least common multiple. First, we decompose the denominators in divisors:
4=2×2
6=2×3
Then, we choose the higher representation of the common and non-common numbers. So, in the example, we’re going to choose the two 2 of 4 and the 3 of 6. We don’t choose the 2 of 6, because 4 has two 2 and it’s higher.
After that, we multiple this numbers and get the least common multiple.
2×2×3=12
In our example, the least common multiple is 12.
Equivalent
Two fractions that represent the same or are equal in value are equivalent. For instance, 1/2 and 2/4 are equivalent fractions, because both represent half of the whole.
The least common multiple is used to find common denominators and create equivalent fractions in order to add or subtract them.
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Lesson 1: Let's play with equivalent fractions!
In this lesson, we’re going to introduce what the equivalent fractions are. Then, the students will practice the identification of equivalent fractions with visual support and pictorial and numerical representations of the fractions.
First of all, we need to know what previous knowledge have our students. So, we’ll do a Kahoot quiz about fractions’ knowledge, asking them about what is a fraction, identify numerator and denominator and match fractions with their pictorial representation.
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Equivalent fractions
The students will see a video explaining what are the equivalent fractions and how to find them with some visual and audio support.
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Matching equivalent fractions
The students are going to play matching equivalent fractions hidden in a set of cards face down. This game will be available with paper cards and, also, in an interactive way, created with Exe-learning.
Fractions game
The students are going to play with a game made with Scratch, which consists in moving a dinosaur in order to touch the equivalent fractions for one given.
'UNO' card game
In groups of 4 students, play the ‘UNO’ card game with fractions’ cards. The game has the same rules, but the number cards have been remove by fraction cards (pictorial and numerical) that allows the students play the game using equivalent fractions.
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Finding equivalent fractions
For those who need more advanced activities or finished before the others, they will have a paper sheet with some fractions written on it. They must find equivalent fractions to those and represents both fractions with draws.
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Comparing fractions
The students will practice and compare fraction with an activity made with Scratch that allows them to represent two fractions and compare them. They can use this activity to help themselves resolving the other activities.
