From: Beverly Smith
To: Teacher2Teacher Service
Date: Apr 29, 2001 at 02:35:38
Subject: Demonstrating division of fractions with pictures or manipulatives

 We are trying to come up with some ideas to show students why dividing a
negative fraction by a negative fraction will give a positive number. Just
telling the "rule" is not enough. How can we show this with pictures, real
models or manipulatives?
We looked in several math books and saw models, but could not apply the
model to the next problem. One way we came up with was to talk about a
football field, and the opponent loosing yards many times. But this was not
quite enough.
Thanks for your help.