1.3 Developing learners’ proportional reasoning

Teaching basic algorithms for solving problems involving ratio and proportion will not develop learners’ proportional reasoning on their own.

Learners need their conceptual understanding of proportion to be flexible so that they can apply it to the many varied situations in which proportional reasoning is required.

Working on repetitive exercises can support learners in remembering methods for solving particular types of ratio and proportion questions. But it does not develop their proportional reasoning or prepare them for unfamiliar problems. Instead, learners need to be exposed to a variety of different problems and approaches.

You will consider a range of problems for learners involving ratio and proportion in Section 2 of this week.