KS1/2 Maths - The Decimal Place 1

John Rawlings, local authority adviser for Neath Port Talbot, has been working with maths consultant Richard Dunne and class teacher Pamela Morgan to revolutionise the teaching of decimals.

In this programme, we look at Pamela's Welsh Year 4/5 class which is trialing a system where the vocabulary of decimals and the relationship to vulgar fractions is emphasized.

Firstly, the class revise how decimals and fractions may have the "same value" but a "different appearance". There is then a debate about the difference between 0.12 and 1.2 when expressed in tenths.

Group work follows and pupils take a number and break it into its component parts. Again the vocabulary of maths is emphasized as thousandths are introduced. Finally, pupils work in groups to add three decimal place numbers.

Some groups work on subtraction, which involves what they call "funny counting" - carrying across one hundredth to make ten thousandths to make a subtraction possible.

One of the pupils featured in this programme, Rachel Harris, sadly died some months after the programme was filmed. Teachers TV thanks Rachels parents for permission to continue showing the programmes, and sends deep sympathy to her family, friends and teachers.