Over two lessons, Year 4 build a program in Scratch, on class accounts managed by the teacher, that shows whether two fractions are equal. The teacher gives each child a starter project with one ready-made block that draws a rectangle of a given width, and shows how a repeat loop can draw a bar cut into equal parts. Each child writes the rest: their program asks the user for a numerator and a denominator twice, draws both fractions as bars of the same length one under the other with the right parts shaded, so the user can see whether the shaded amounts line up, and children who finish add a third bar. Children test their programs with fractions a partner chooses, fix bars that do not line up, and end by using their program to check three families they wrote in their books earlier in the week.
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.