Math Applet Review #1

"Add like Fractions with Circles" from Visual Fractions
http://www.visualfractions.com/AddEasyCircle.html

The objective of this math applet is to help students understand how to add fractions together. By using pictures of circles with parts shaded in the interactive site helps students to see what the fractions are they are adding and what their sum is. Students are given a picture of circles divided into a different number of sections. They have to enter what the number is that the circles are representing. Then students are given a second set of circles and have to enter the number those are representing. Each set of circles is also shaded in with a different color. With both pictures still present the student then is told to find the sum of the two sets of circles. The answer is shown in the circles as well once the student has submitted their answer and it combines the two colors used to still show the two different numbers in the answer. The student can then submit a report of all the one they have gotten wrong or right to the teacher so they can check the work. There is also a button for explanation. If a student does not understand why something is the answer they can click the explain button and it will explain how the program got the answer it did.

This applet seems pretty good at helping students to see what fractions really look like and helping them understand how to count out and figure out the fraction. However, if a student enters a fraction wrong for just one of the addends it doesn't really explain why it is wrong it just tells them to look at it again. It also does not register this as a wrong response. So it could take a student 5 tries to get the addends right but they get the sum right away and it looks like they got the whole problem correct. This applet doesn't seem to promote much in the growth of math content. It basically only shows students if they understand how to make fractions and add them. If a student doesn't understand this concept they are not going to be able to learn how to from this applet. The feedback the program gives for an incorrect sum is simply if the response is too large or too small from the actual answer. This applet would be good for a teacher to use to see how well their students are doing with fractions. From the report of the activity the teacher will be able to see how much more time they need to spend on fractions with their students. This applet cannot be used to try and teach those struggling with fractions.