this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This isn’t testing reasonableness. This is testing to see if a student understands that to properly compare fractions the wholes have to start as equivalent.

Source: I use questions similar to this every year because if I don’t get some real funky diagrams.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

But.. you can totally compare fractions without the whole being equivalent. You just have to know the size of the wholes. It's just a poorly phrased question that has more than one correct answer when only one was intended.

Edit: also, it's totally testing reasonableness, that's literally the title of the question. Still poorly phrased though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

9 and 10 year olds lack the understanding or ability adjust for differently sized wholes.

Ok, I misspoke when I said it’s not testing for reasonableness. It’s what I get for commenting right after waking up. The reasonableness it’s checking for is can the students understand what makes the situation true. That the wholes are different sized. It’s not a poorly worded problem, the teacher just doesn’t know what they are doing.

Source: again, I teach this scenario every year and the students figure it out every year.