Teacher Uses Legos to Help Students with Fractions

There are many toys that we may have played with as children, but the appeal of Legos is practically universal. After all, you can let your imagination run wild and build anything that you could possibly dream of with a good set of Legos!

Legos got their start in a carpenter shop in Denmark. It was in that shop that Legos were first conceived and the carpenter, Kirk Christiansen, used to make the Legos out of wood by hand. Even the word the Lego comes from the Dutch phrase “leg godt.” The translation? Play well!

Since those humble beginnings, Legos have often been considered to be the ultimate in children’s toys. Aside from the fact that Legos can foster creativity in a young mind, they can also be beneficial for hand eye coordination, motor skills and even spatial awareness.

Although many of us are familiar with Legos because we build with them, they may actually have a more far-reaching use. This use was discovered by Alisha Zimmerman, a third-grade teacher in New York. As part of her math lesson plan, she was looking for a way to help her students to understand difficult concepts. She was interested in making sure they truly understood what she was teaching, not just being able to parrot words out of a textbook.

A simple chart such as this can help children to learn fractions easily. When you start with a block with eight pegs as being a whole number, it is easy to break down the other numbers into fractions.

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When a young mind tries to understand something for the first time, it can be difficult. Understanding the basics about whole numbers and fractions comes much more easily when it is explained in this way.

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After a basic understanding has taken place, the use of addition and subtraction with fractions makes more sense as well.

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It is even possible to extrapolate this method beyond a single 8 peg block!

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You could even extend it further!

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You can even use larger pieces as whole numbers to understand difficult concepts, such as equivalent fractions.

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Using a simple diagram, such as this, children can see how a single 1/6 piece is the same as 2 pieces that are 1/12

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The same method can be used for other fractions, such as 4/24

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Interestingly, the use of Legos for understanding math is not limited to fractions. Since each eight peg piece counts as a whole number, you can begin to explain multiplication and exponents.

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Via: Scholastic

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