Interactive fraction wall

What the interactive fraction wall does on screen

One wall fills the whiteboard: a whole at the top, then halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths and twelfths, each row in its own colour and all exactly the same width. That last part is the whole idea, so say it out loud before you touch anything.

• Shading. Tap the third piece along the fifths row and the first three shade in one after the other, giving three fifths. Drag along a row instead and the shading follows your finger. Tap the same piece again to clear the row. Shading always runs from the left, so the wall shows an amount rather than scattered pieces.
• The readout. Whatever you shade is written under the wall. One fraction reads as any fractions equal to it, then a decimal and a percentage, so three fifths reads as six tenths alongside 0.6 and 60%.
• Comparing. Shade a second row and the readout turns into 2/3 > 3/5 with the gap underneath as a fraction and a decimal, and a marker stands at the end of each shaded run. Shade a third and all three are put in order.
• Rows. The Rows button chooses which rows are up. Four quick sets cover most lessons, or tick the denominators yourself, from a whole and halves alone to every row down to twentieths. Rows you take away do not disturb the shading on the rows that stay.
• Equivalents. With this on, tapping a piece shades that fraction and every fraction equal to it, and draws a line down through the point they all end. Only one fraction is held at a time, which keeps it clean.
• Compare line. A line you drag across the whole wall. It settles on a piece edge when it is close to one and its tag reads that spot as a fraction, a decimal and a percentage.
• Labels. Every piece is labelled with its own size, so the quarters row is four pieces all saying a quarter. Four buttons switch them to decimals, percentages or blank, and Hide labels blanks and restores them in one tap.
• Print. One A4 landscape picture of the wall as it stands, shading and all.

How to use it in a lesson

Shade before you name. Tap a piece, ask what has been shaded, and only then look at the readout. Once it is on screen the question has been answered for them.

1. Start with the wall and nothing else. Ask why every row is the same length. A minute here saves a term of trouble.
2. Shade one fraction and take a name for it. Then ask a second child to say it a different way.
3. Turn Equivalents on and tap it again. Count the rows that light up, then try one third and ask why so few join in.
4. Settle an argument. Take a vote on which of two fractions is bigger, then shade them both with Equivalents off and let the readout answer, gap and all.
5. Switch the labels to percentages and ask the same questions. Nothing has moved, which is the point.
6. Blank the labels to check who has got it, then Print the wall for paper.

Ideas by year group

• Year 1. Shade one half, then one quarter. Which piece is bigger, and how many quarters cover the half?
• Year 2. Shade three quarters and count the pieces aloud, then ask how much is missing.
• Year 3. Equivalents on. Tap two quarters, and ask what all the rows that light up have in common.
• Year 4. Shade two thirds and three fifths. Which is bigger, and what does the wall say the gap is?
• Year 5. Labels on percentages. Shade four tenths, ask for the percentage, then find the row that makes the same amount.
• Year 6. Every row on, Equivalents on. Tap one seventh, then one eleventh. Why does nothing light up beside them?

The misconceptions it helps with

Bigger denominator, bigger fraction. One eighth is visibly thinner than one third, the two rows one above the other with no arithmetic in the way. Fastest correction there is.

Equivalent means similar. When one half, two quarters, three sixths and six twelfths all light up and stop at the same line, equivalent starts meaning the same amount instead of nearly the same.

Losing the whole. Children compare three quarters of a small thing with one half of a big one. Every row here is the same width, so only the fraction changes.

Fractions, decimals and percentages as three topics. The readout gives all three at once and the labels switch without the pieces moving, so they are one fact rather than three.

Frequently asked questions