ECED 50147, Spring 2014

DIAGNOSTIC INTERVIEW REFLECTION

Pre-Service Teacher: Ashley Bowers

Pre-Interview
Students Name
(pseudonym): K.S.

Age: 8 years

Grade Level: 3rd

Interview Date & Time:

3/4/2014; 10 AM

Topic:
Developing Understanding of Fractions as Numbers

CCSS-M Content Standards Addressed:

CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.1 Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is
partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.2 Understand a fraction as a number on the number line; represent fractions on a

number line diagram.

CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.2a Represent a fraction 1/b on a number line diagram by defining the

interval from 0 to 1 as the whole and partitioning it into b equal parts. Recognize that each part has size 1/b and
that the endpoint of the part based at 0 locates the number 1/b on the number line.

CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.2b Represent a fraction a/b on a number line diagram by marking off a

lengths 1/b from 0. Recognize that the resulting interval has size a/b and that its endpoint locates the
number a/b on the number line.

Detailed Description of the Task(s):

Materials Needed: Pencil, 2 dice, Plotting Fractions gameboard
Students will roll the two dice, and then create a fraction out of the numbers they roll. (Smaller
number will be the numerator, while the larger number will be the denominator). Students will then
write their fraction, draw a picture representing their fraction, and plot their fraction on a number
line from 0 to 1. Students will repeat task until they have filled up their entire page with fractions. An
example is provided on the gameboard so that students will have an idea about how to accomplish
these tasks. Writing the fraction, drawing a picture, and plotting on a number line offer various
levels of thinking about, interacting with, and understanding fractions.
Prepared Script:
Prepare student for the task by talking through the task and showing the example given on the
gameboard (I do/modeling). For students who are having difficulty, do an additional practice roll
together (we do/guided practice) before allowing student to do the rest of the task on their own (you
do/independent practice).
Possible Interview Questions:
1. For students that need the prompting, after rolling the dice, ask Which number will be the
numerator of our fraction? and/or Which number will be the denominator of our fraction?

ECED 50147, Spring 2014

2. If the student has difficulty converting the fraction into a picture, prompt When we look at our
fraction, which number tells us how many equal parts the picture should be divided into? Which
number tells us the number of parts that should be shaded?
3. The number line portion of the activity is a higher level thinking skill. When working on the
number line portion, it is important that the student understand how to divide the number line into
equal parts. Similar to the questions in #2 above, Ask Which number in the fraction tells us how
many equal parts we need to divide the number line into? (The denominator.) How can we do that?
Watch how the student does this. Ask about their reasoning as they are working.
4. After the number line is divided, ask Now, which number in the fraction tells us how many parts
(or units) into the number line we need to move to plot our fraction? Watch how the student does
this. Ask about their reasoning.
5. When the page is filled with fractions, corresponding pictures, and corresponding plots on the
number line, have the student compare the number lines. Ask Are all the number lines the same
length overall? (Yes, they all span between 0 and 1.) Then ask Are all the number lines divided up
in the same way? (They could be if all the fractions have the same denominator, but they probably
wont be.) Ask What comparisons can you make between these numbers?
6. If students have difficulty with the number line, keep all of the denominators equal in the
fractions. This way, a comparison of the number lines within the same equal parts can be made.
7. If task is too easy, as an extension, have students roll both die together and add to create a
denominator, and then again (both die and add) to create a numerator. This increases the possible
equal pieces/denominator up to 12.

Interview
After the interview, write a summary of how the student performed on the task(s). Some questions to
consider are (but not limited to): What mistakes did the student make? Where was the student
successful? What strategies did the student use? Were the strategies effective? Where did the student
get stuck? Upon what prerequisite knowledge did the student draw? Attach any work samples you may
have from the interview.
The student was eager to complete the task once I explained how to play the game. She did need me
to go through two examples one with my modeling, and one in which I guided her through the
task. Because the task had three parts writing a fraction, drawing a picture, and plotting the
fraction on the number line there were numerous places where I could foresee that K.S. would
become confused. However, she did very well with using the dice to create a fraction, as well as
drawing a picture to represent that fraction. To this extent, she seemed very confident, and even
discussed the newly learned terms of numerator and denominator with me. The student drew on
past knowledge about equal groups and division concepts to complete these tasks. Additionally, the
pictures that the student drew were indicative of this type of conceptual understanding. For
example, to represent 1/3, the student drew three circles and shaded one in. Another way to
represent this (the way that the students would be learning in class this week) would be to divide a
single circle (or other shape) into three parts and shade in one of the parts. I gave the student the
option of representing her fraction either way because I knew the previous knowledge she had about
representing fractions, as well as what she would be expected to know about fractions within the

ECED 50147, Spring 2014

next few weeks.

The area in which the student made the most mistakes was when asked to plot the fraction on the
number line. This was a completely new task for the student, and even after modeling and guided
practice, she still did not understand the concept of appropriately using the number line. K.S. seemed
confused about the number line spanning from 0 to 1, and she did not understand at all the concept
of dividing the number line into the number of parts indicated in the denominator of the fraction.
Again, all of this will be covered in class in the next few weeks, but K.S.s lack of knowledge about
number lines in general caused some concern for me.
Another interesting portion of the diagnostic interview was when K.S. rolled two twos with the dice
creating a fraction of 2/2. While I would have preferred her to draw a picture representing two
halves of a whole shaded in, as I feel that such a picture would have better illustrated the concept,
K.S. drew two separate circles and filled both in. I did not foresee that one picture representation
type would be more informative, and that was one drawback of the task that I designed. In order to
increase understanding of concepts of fractions, this might be one thing that I would change about
the activity.

Post-Interview
Citing evidence from your interview, describe what future instruction you feel is appropriate for this
student (related to your specific topic).
For future instruction, I think that I would definitely work to discover what the student knows about
number lines and how they are used. As stated above, the student really struggled with the overall,
basic concept of the number line as it relates to fractions; I would be interested to investigate this
further to see what the student actually does understand, and where she could use a little more
practice. Also, I will be interested to see how the students understanding of fractions changes over
the next few weeks as she has more and more practice working with them. To assess this change, I
might play the fraction plotting game with her again after direct instruction about fractions is
finished. Additionally, to increase exposure to number lines and the different ways to divide a
number line between 0 and 1, I might have K.S. work with strips of paper of the same length that she
has divided into one whole, two halves, and three thirds. This might be an easier way to visualize
how the number line should be divided, and this task could easily be modified, as needed, as K.S.
worked her way up to sixths (or more!)
Another thing that I would focus on to ensure that I am meeting the student on her level would be to
change the fraction plotting game slightly. As stated before, I would require that K.S. draw her
pictures as pieces of a whole, instead of as altogether separate pieces (for example, 1/3 drawn as a
circle divided into three parts, not three circles). Additionally, I would modify dice rolling so that the
greatest number that K.S. could get in the denominator of her fractions would be 3. Especially when
working on plotting on the number line, I think this would allow her to focus on fewer ways to
divide the number line, which will increase her success. Once she is successful up to a denominator
of 3, I would work back up to having K.S. plot fractions with denominators of 6. This focus on fewer
numbers at a time would hopefully give her a deeper understanding of the concept of plotting
fractions appropriately on a number line.