A review of the article "Introducing percents in linear measurement to foster an understanding of rational-number operations" A critical reading

Teaching Children Mathematics; Feb 2003 "Introducing percents in linear measurement to foster an understanding of rational-number operations" Pages: 335-339 "Traditional instruction in rational numbers focuses on rules and memorization." Teachers often give students instructions such as, "To add fractions, first find a common denominator, then add only the numerators" or "To add and subtract decimal numbers, line up the decimals, then do your calculations." However, Remembering and properly executing these relatively simple rules can be very …

…cannot remember ever doing this in my math or science classes. This article does a fine job of showing a new way of approaching a difficult subject and how some students respond receptively to it. If teachers can make it a habit of showing a variety of ways to do problems when they see not all the children are grasping a subject then we can give them a better chance at succeeding in other subjects.