May Journal Article

Elington, A., & Whitenack, J. (2010). Fractions and the Funky Cookie. Teaching Children Mathematics, 16(9), 532.

SUMMARY

This article is all about explaining to children that fractions or parts of a whole make up a whole object. They did this posing the funky cookie task, which was a set of pattern blocks in a shape by the teacher. This was supposed to cause the students to ask questions and gain knowledge. By looking at the funky cookie expression students were able to tell that some pieces were different from each other, however they may not know what the different sizes of the shapes are. Students used pattern blocks to determine fractions and learn about how equal pieces make up a whole . This article also talked about mathematics specialists, their jobs and how they interact in the classroom.

EVALUATION

This was probably one of my least favorite articles that I have read so far. Even though it was for elementary grade level it was hard to understand and I did not really understand what was going on. First the author would talk about the funky cookie explanation, then they would say it was with a pull out group from a class, and than talk about math specialists. I was not sure if the authors main objective was to explain the funky cookie expression or to talk about what math specialists are and what they do. I did enjoy that the teacher used the funky cookie expression in a hands on way. Students struggle sometimes in math, especially with fractions. With allowing students to use a hands on manipulative to explore fractions they can better understand them and how they work.