Menu
Log in
Forgot password


Log in
Forgot password




Heidi A. Eisenreich, Ph.D., (Utah Valley University) is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA, and earned a doctorate in Mathematics Education from the University of Central Florida. Before joining the faculty at GS, Dr. Eisenreich taught high school and college-level mathematics. Dr. Eisenreich has presented at the state, national, and international levels. Her research includes helping teachers develop a conceptual understanding of mathematics through tasks, oral and written discourse, identifying student errors; working with preservice teachers to present at the state mathematics conference to share concepts they have learned in class with current teachers, and helping parents make sense of mathematics strategies their children are learning in elementary classrooms. 



Andria Disney, Ed.D. (Georgia Southern University) is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at Utah Valley University, where she teaches elementary mathematics methods and supports student teachers with their teacher performance assessment.  She served as an Assistant Professor of Elementary Mathematics Education at Georgia Southern University from 2016 to 2019.  Before receiving her Ed.D. from the University of Montana in 2016, she worked in public schools as an elementary teacher, a middle school math teacher, and a mathematics curriculum and instructional specialist.  Dr. Disney enjoys partnering with local school districts to facilitate job-embedded mathematics professional development with in-service teachers.  Her research interests include supporting pre-service and in-service teachers in making mathematics instructional change and using sense-making tools with their students. 



Karin Fisher, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) (Georgia Southern University) is an associate professor of special education at Georgia Southern University. She provides instruction on special education to in- and preservice teachers at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Education Specialist levels. Dr. Fisher has presented at the state, national, and international levels. Her research includes the participation of students with disabilities in extracurricular science, technology, engineering, and mathematics activities, the experiences of special education teachers during the pandemic, and the experiences of college students with disabilities.

Abigail W. Lorden is attending Georgia Southern University as a Special Education major. She has worked as a research assistant for the past year. Abigail has presented research at both the college and state levels. She plans to focus her future research on conceptual-based learning within the classroom.

Also credited - 

Tamara Willis, Salem Junior High (Picture not included.)

I Can’t Remember Which Fraction to Keep or Flip:
Building Understanding of Fraction Division
with the CRA Instructional Model

 

Teaching fraction division is challenging, especially when instruction focuses on teaching the procedure of keep-change-flip without a deep conceptual understanding of how and why that algorithm works. However, using the Concrete-Representation-Abstract (CRA) Instructional Model, evidence-based practice is a way to address this challenge. The CRA Instructional Model is helpful for students with and without disabilities when teaching any mathematical operation (Gersten et al., 2009; Siegler et al., 2010). Students begin with building concrete models using physical or virtual manipulatives, then transition to representational drawings, and finally, make connections to abstract computation-based strategies. Throughout each phase, teachers support students in making sense of the problem and connecting their models or computational strategies to the context of the mathematical word problem.

The CRA Instructional Model (see Figures 1 and 2) is a systematic way to build from conceptual understanding to procedural fluency. Students must begin in the concrete phase and then learn the subsequent phases for teachers to implement it with fidelity. You will notice the overlapping of each of the phases–the teacher must facilitate students making explicit connections between the adjacent phases. It is also essential to understand that using the CRA Instructional Model takes time. Teachers will not have students learn all phases in a single lesson or a single week. Students will be ready to move on to the next phase at different times, so teachers will need to meet the varied needs of students. 


Read the rest of the article.

If you need immediate assistance, please contact Susan Imrie at office_manager@gctm.org.

To report issues with the website, please submit an IT Request Form or contact Julie Matthews at webmaster@gctm.org.

To report issues with registration, please contact Tammy Donalson at registrar@gctm.org.

Connect with us!

       

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software