Review by Seth Guttenplan, Common Sense Education | Updated September 2018
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Amplify Fractions

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Story-based lessons guide students with helpful virtual tutor

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • Math
Skills
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
3–6
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Price:  Free to try, Paid 30-day free trial; contact Amplify to request a quote.
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

5 images
Choose from three different units on fractions.
Complete a lesson or practice a topic within each unit.
Students are guided through a fraction problem with a story-based scenario.
A virtual tutor can explain and make markings when a student answers incorrectly.
Students have access to unlimited practice.

Pros: Teaches fractions in real-world contexts with personalized feedback and unlimited practice.

Cons: The quirky storytelling may not appeal to all students, and the practice problems lack the quality feedback of the lessons.

Bottom Line: With a digital tutor to guide students through interactive fraction problems, this is an ideal math center program.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Amplify Fractions is a website that focuses on helping students learn all aspects of fractions through adaptive instruction and storytelling. Students are guided by a virtual tutor, making the program an ideal math center. In addition to independent classwork, students can also complete problems for homework. With the reporting section, teachers can easily see which concepts students have mastered and the areas in which they still need work. Students sign up with a class code created by the teacher.

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Standards:

Amplify Fractions is an interactive website that teaches students all aspects of fractions, which are split into three units: Intro to Fractions; Equivalence & Comparison, Adding & Subtracting; and Multiplying & Dividing. It uses storytelling episodes, which include a lesson followed by practice, to keep students engaged while completing each problem provided to them. Students receive feedback through a virtual tutor who draws on the screen. 

After teachers activate their account, they can create classes that students join using a code. Teachers can see the progress each student is making within each unit. The reporting section includes a standards view for teachers to see student progress based on Common Core standards. 

The storytelling in Amplify Fractions allows students to see -- and make sense of -- the fractions rather than just work with numbers. But the best part is the individualized feedback students receive when they answer; the virtual tutor draws on the screen and uses manipulatives to demonstrate the lesson. Students can see their progress on a mastery bar that fills as they answer problems correctly, and students can practice for an unlimited amount of time.

The support from Amplify Fractions provides teachers with the opportunity to focus on a student's understanding rather than spend time learning how to use the tool.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

The unique storytelling guides students through interactive lessons that teach them what fractions are before challenging them to perform basic operations.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

The program's essentially a virtual tutor guiding students through various fraction problems. When students respond with an incorrect answer, they get encouraging feedback and suggestions on how to proceed.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

There's a great deal of support, including a scope-and-sequence outline of lessons, guidance on pedagogy, and materials for how to get started.

Common Sense Reviewer
Seth Guttenplan Technology coordinator
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Number And Operations—Fractions

  • 3.NF.1

    Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

  • 3.NF.2

    Understand a fraction as a number on the number line; represent fractions on a number line diagram.

  • 3.NF.2.a

    Represent a fraction 1/b on a number line diagram by defining the interval from 0 to 1 as the whole and partitioning it into b equal parts. Recognize that each part has size 1/b and that the endpoint of the part based at 0 locates the number 1/b on the number line.

  • 3.NF.2.b

    Represent a fraction a/b on a number line diagram by marking off a lengths 1/b from 0. Recognize that the resulting interval has size a/b and that its endpoint locates the number a/b on the number line.

  • 3.NF.3

    Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size.

  • 3.NF.3.a

    Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size, or the same point on a number line.

  • 3.NF.3.b

    Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3). Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

  • 3.NF.3.c

    Express whole numbers as fractions, and recognize fractions that are equivalent to whole numbers. Examples: Express 3 in the form 3 = 3/1; recognize that 6/1 = 6; locate 4/4 and 1 at the same point of a number line diagram.

  • 3.NF.3.d

    Compare two fractions with the same numerator or the same denominator by reasoning about their size. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

  • 5.NF.2

    Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole, including cases of unlike denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. Use benchmark fractions and number sense of fractions

  • 5.NF.3

    Interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a ÷ b). Solve word problems involving division of whole numbers leading to answers in the form of fractions or mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. For example, interpret 3/4 as the result of dividing 3 by 4, noting that 3/4 multiplied by 4 equals 3, and that when 3 wholes are shared equally among 4 people each person has a share of size 3/4. If 9 people want to share a 50-pound sack of rice equally by weight, how many pounds of rice should each person get? Between what two whole numbers does your answer lie?

  • 5.NF.4

    Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.

  • 5.NF.4.a

    Interpret the product (a/b) × q as a parts of a partition of q into b equal parts; equivalently, as the result of a sequence of operations a × q ÷ b. For example, use a visual fraction model to show (2/3) × 4 = 8/3, and create a story context for this equation. Do the same with (2/3) × (4/5) = 8/15. (In general, (a/b) × (c/d) = ac/bd.)

  • 5.NF.4.b

    Find the area of a rectangle with fractional side lengths by tiling it with unit squares of the appropriate unit fraction side lengths, and show that the area is the same as would be found by multiplying the side lengths. Multiply fractional side lengths to find areas of rectangles, and represent fraction products as rectangular areas.

  • 5.NF.5

    Interpret multiplication as scaling (resizing), by:

  • 5.NF.5.a

    Comparing the size of a product to the size of one factor on the basis of the size of the other factor, without performing the indicated multiplication.

  • 5.NF.5.b

    Explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction greater than 1 results in a product greater than the given number (recognizing multiplication by whole numbers greater than 1 as a familiar case); explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction less than 1 results in a product smaller than the given number; and relating the principle of fraction equivalence a/b = (n×a)/(n×b) to the effect of multiplying a/b by 1.

  • 5.NF.6

    Solve real world problems involving multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem.

  • 5.NF.7.a

    Interpret division of a unit fraction by a non-zero whole number, and compute such quotients. For example, create a story context for (1/3) ÷ 4, and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient. Use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that (1/3) ÷ 4 = 1/12 because (1/12) × 4 = 1/3.

  • 5.NF.7.b

    Interpret division of a whole number by a unit fraction, and compute such quotients. For example, create a story context for 4 ÷ (1/5), and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient. Use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that 4 ÷ (1/5) = 20 because 20 × (1/5) = 4.

  • 5.NF.7.c

    Solve real world problems involving division of unit fractions by non-zero whole numbers and division of whole numbers by unit fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem. For example, how much chocolate will each person get if 3 people share 1/2 lb of chocolate equally? How many 1/3-cup servings are in 2 cups of raisins?

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