As I mentioned in my previous post: https://mathmindsblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/fractions-of-fractions/ 
I had wondered about fraction multiplication being introduced without a context when the students were coming from lessons in which a fraction of a whole/mixed number had a context. Feeling like the students had a solid grasp on how to find a fraction of a fraction on a fraction bar, I thought I would try having them develop a story context for fraction multiplication problem. They had free reign of the fractions they used and context they chose. Needless to say, it was a learning experience for me. Some showed understanding of what they were doing when finding a fraction of a fraction of something while others unveiled some things I need to go back and revisit.

I have included clips from some of their videos and what I learned from each…. (turn your volume up bc they whispered on these)

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/aiyana-fraction-bars/13628710/?s=fv1sHe&ref=link

This one was SO interesting (and a little humorous) because she cut the fraction bar to find 2/3s of 1/2, however when she is explaining her reasoning she used the commutative property. Saying that the answer is 2/6 because that is half of 2/3 was something I had never thought of exploring with students when reasoning about whether the answer made sense. I loved it and definitely added to my lessons for next week!

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/riley-s-breadstick-word-problem/13630693/?s=j3i9i5&ref=link

When she introduces the scenario, she says “1/2 of 1/4” so I don’t know if she misspoke or not really understanding the context. I can see she has the process but I don’t know if the understanding is there. I do love how she says “He wanted to find how much of the whole bread stick that was” because she is relating her answer back to the whole. This was difficult for many students. Maybe picky on my end, but I would have liked for her to label the pieces 1/8, 2/8, etc instead of by whole number, even though I know she is counting the pieces.

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/ab-word-problem/13627803/?s=Hr3zRv&ref=link

I was impressed how she used a class of students as the whole and did not get confused with the fraction of the class as opposed to the number of students. Many others got caught up in “How many students…” instead of “What fraction of the class.” One thing that just bothered me in watching it was the empty seat in the class! I just wanted to draw a person in for her!

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/kyra-s-problem/13628055/?s=aIYKAt&ref=link

This one has such a great context and division of the Hershey Bar that I was so excited, until the end. She seemed good with the context, decontextualized to solve, but then struggled to recontextualize to explain the answer.

I could post and comment all day, but needless to say there is other work to be done and papers to be commented on! It was a great first day with our 1:1 iPads using Educreations! I learned so much that now I must work on readjusting my math plans for next week!

-Kristin