ABSTRACT
No one knows better than teachers who have had experience teaching fractions that current instruction is not serving many students. However, in addition to having a need to change, there must be a viable direction for change. It is important to emphasize the difference between changing instruction and adding to the mathematics curriculum. Teachers argue that there is no room in the curriculum for additional topics; they can barely "cover" everything as it is. It is still up to teachers to commit to change that is recognizable in their teaching methods and in the general culture within their mathematics classes. The teacher needs to be able to handle an unspecified, nonsequential treatment of topics to make change happen. In addition, the teacher who is really committed to changing kids' encounter with fractions, uses study hall time, homework, projects, group work, work stations, and other means to incorporate good reasoning activities.
