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47
T
roubleshooting
Find the error and correct it!
Identify the error and provide a correction:
Logan’s class is learning to create common denominators for adding fractions. Her instructor works
at the whiteboard and explains how to create a least common denominator for two fractions with
uncommon denominators. Logan is taking great notes and following along with what her instructor
is doing. The next problem the instructor models is 3/14 + 4/21. She explains that 7 is a factor in
each denominator and she multiplies the first fraction by 3/3 and the second fraction by 2/2 to get
9/42 + 8/42 = 17/42. Logan sees what her instructor did and thinks it looks simple. “I’m set for my
homework, no sweat!” Later that night, she encounters the following two problems in her homework:
1 2
4.
3 5
4 2
5.
15 45
+ =
− =
She feels frustrated and confused. She says, “For problem 4, I can’t find any common factors between
the two denominators. In problem 5, I see that 5 is a common factor, but so is 3. Neither of these
problems are like the problems worked in class today.”
M
aking it Matter
Solving problems in your life
●
Over the course of the next five learning activities, document two uses of each practice. Use the Best
Practices Scorecard which is available on the companion website for this activity.
L
earning to Learn Mathematics
Reflecting on and appreciating your learning
1. How do you determine if a learning practice is effective?
2. If you decided that a practice wasn’t effective for you, was it the practice itself or your use of the
practice that determined its effectiveness?
A
ssessing Your Performance
Assessing your performance as a learner
Review the description of
A Successful Performance
and assess your own performance against the
standard offered there.
●
How and why was your performance
SUCCESSFUL
?
●
How can you
IMPROVE
your performance, making it more successful? What
concrete steps
do you
need to take to make each improvement?
1.4 Best Practices for Learning Mathematics