Teresa Murphy teaches 3rd-grade math, science, and social studies in a departmentalized situation at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She serves a diverse population of learners, with students divided into morning and afternoon classes of 21 each.
Challenges with teaching fractions
As a veteran teacher with 31 years in the classroom, Murphy knew that fractions were always one of the most challenging math topics in 3rd grade. When Murphy started the 2022-23 school year, she knew she needed to do “something more.” Frax turned out to be the answer!
Adaptive and game-based, Frax is a digital platform that helps students develop a conceptual understanding of fractions through carefully scaffolded tasks. Students earn fun rewards like tokens and trophies as they complete space-themed missions and games.
Introducing Frax to the classroom
“I introduced the program to the students very informally and let them begin prior to any formal fraction instruction,” Murphy said. “Most had recently successfully completed Reflex and were ready for something different. The buzz in the classroom was the first sign that this was going to be a hit.”
The buzz didn’t stop there. “I couldn’t believe how engaged and motivated students were to get to the next mission. I actually LOVE that they can only do so much in one day. It helps with the equity within the classroom,” said Murphy.
Year one with Frax
During that first year, she did not prioritize the program, “I guess you can say year one, I just got my feet wet. But this year. . . ,” said Murphy. “When I compared my own personal class results from last year to this year in the area of fractional reasoning, I demonstrated more than a 20% increase.”
Murphy's classroom data before and after using Frax.
Competitive class activities with Frax
For the 2023-2024 school year, Murphy introduced Frax prior to beginning the formal fraction chapter. “I told students that fractions were a lot of fun, and they had a cool game now that most had mastered Reflex Math,” she said. “Soon into the program, I decided to have my ‘a.m.’ class compete against my ‘p.m.’ class to see which class could have 100% of students complete the 27 missions. This was a hit!” She put the percentages on the board for each class daily, which showed fierce competition.
“Students were pretty much neck and neck the entire way,” said Murphy. “Although I had a few students in each class that never completed ALL the missions, it was close. They truly enjoyed the games and continued after the missions were completed.”
Frax’s impact on student performance
Murphy knows that motivation is critical. Providing a tool that excites and engages students can be tricky. With Frax, though, Murphy’s students say fractions are fun. “Even when they struggle with the hardest concept, ordering fractions, they still do it with enthusiasm,” she said. “Students did EXTREMELY well in ALL areas of fractional reasoning on the state test. However, my lowest-performing students had their biggest successes in the area of fractional reasoning. That says a lot. For a struggling student to show strength in the most challenging area demonstrates that this program motivates!”
A glimpse at the data from the testing in Murphy’s classroom.
Based on the Topic Assessments from her school district, Murphy’s students displayed higher ‘satisfactory’ and ‘proficiency’ than the state, district, and classes that did not use the Frax program. “I noticed a difference last year, but now that I used the program more diligently, I see the comparative results against the state and district as well as my data from last year’s state assessment to this year.”
Check out the “My Students” row for Murphy’s incredible results.
The numbers speak for themselves. “78% of my students scored above average this year in fractional reasoning on the final math state assessment (FAST). The state was at 33% and the district was at 38%,” Murphy said.
Student feedback on Frax
What about the students? Take a look at a few comments from actual Frax users:
- “It’s fun when you finish it because you can play the games over and over.”-Jayden
- “I love creating my room and traveling to other planets.”-Lester
- “I like to compare fractions because it’s cool.”-Enzo
- “Frax makes learning fractions fun.”-Olivia
Overcoming the fractions stigma and looking ahead
Although many classes are using Frax, Murphy would like to see more. “I believe significant growth can be shown in 3rd grade if it is used consistently throughout our district,” she said. “ALL of our math classes will use it next year. I believe the results will clearly prove its effectiveness.”
“The stigma of ‘fractions are hard’ did not seem to exist this year,” said Murphy. “That was a beautiful thing.”