Help! ASAP .. How do you explain to an 8 yr old child ...?

Question

how to arrange fractions from greater than to less than without totally confusing them? .. should you focus at the denominator or the numerator to identify which is greater or less .. [ex .. 1/5, 2/3, 5/6]

Answer 1

Drawing pictures like the first person mentioned definitely helps.   The child has to be able to SEE the fraction in order to understand that 2/3 is greater than 2/4.  Because kids were taught that the bigger number is greater, understanding fractions becomes more difficult.  You could even teach your child a neat "trick" by using the calculator.  Divide the numerators by the denominators, and you can see which one is bigger in that respect.  You could even extend that by showing how they're percentages, which will make it a lot easier to understand.

Answer 2

draw pictures or help him by using examples with foods

Answer 3

Pictures work well (ie. a graph representing the actual amount), as well as reworking the fraction so the denominators are the same.  For example, which is greater, 2/3 or 3/4?  The lowest common denominator would be 12, so 2/3 becomes 8/12 and 3/4 becomes 9/12.  Now the question is, which is greater, 8/12 or 9/12 (much easier question to answer).  Because the denominator is the same, you now focus on the numerator, which gives you the answer.

Answer 4

Draw pictures to show the fractions. For example:

for 1/5 draw a pie (circle) with 5 equal slices and shade in one slice. Do the same for the other fractions. Make them compare the shadings and which are greater.

Answer 5

Why do 8 year olds need to know this yet anyways? I didn't understand fractions until 4th grade, (10 years old.) and I am a year ahead in math at my school. Focus on the denominator. Explain how the lower the denominator, the larger the fraction. (1/2 is bigger than 1/12.) Since the kid is pretty young, don't stress it too much. Work on knowing larger, and bigger, and knowing the equivalents to halves. (3/6 is equivalent to 1/2 etc.) Drawing pictures, and using figures (like straws, or spaghetti noddles) works best. I prefer pictures. Draw equal sized shapes, break them down into sections based on the denominator, then shade in the numerator. (So for 5/6 draw a square and divide it into 6 columns, then shade in 5 of them. ) Then draw another one underneath it that is the same size to compare it, and find which one has a  bigger shaded portion. To this day, I still use this as a strategy to help me with fractions.

Answer 6

Divide the top # over the bottom #. Ex: 1/5= 0.2 2/3=0.6667 5/6= 0.83333. Which ever fraction has the highest value is greatest, and the lowest value is the least. 5/6>2/3