Math Hero Comics

Teaching Fractions with Newton’s Nemesis

- March 9, 2019January 19, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor 1 Comment

Today, I uploaded a new video on YouTube that condenses all the research behind my math mystery comic book series, Newton's Nemesis. It's fast paced and 7-minutes long. Every time I need to learn something…

Comic Book Project Updates

Math & The Characters: Theo’s Sister Leah

- March 1, 2019January 18, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor 1 Comment

One of the most common reasons children struggle when learning fraction division is because they haven’t fully developed their understanding of division with whole numbers. Children need to understand different interpretations of division and have…

Research Studies

Measurement, partitive, & more?!?!? Oh My!

- February 15, 2019January 19, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor 3 Comments

Alfinio Flores who wrote a chapter in the NCTM 2002 Yearbook Making Sense of Fractions, Ratios, and Proportions1 that provided many intriguing ways fraction division can be interpreted. The most common are measurement and partitive,…

Comic Book Project Updates

Test Results are in, and they are SUPER…

- February 11, 2019February 8, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor comment

The beta test results for Newton's Nemesis No. 1 are in, and I am thrilled! The teachers and children loved the book. I gave class sets of the comic books to teachers in four schools,…

Research Studies

Math & The Characters: Theo’s Mother

- January 19, 2019February 8, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor comment

As I developed the story for Newton’s Nemesis, I wanted the underlying narrative to reinforce growth mindset, or more specifically, mathematical mindset. Jo Boaler, a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University, authored a wonderful…

Research Studies

Math Learning Disabilities (MLD) and Fractions

- December 8, 2018February 8, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor 1 Comment

The other day, a math teacher sent me a lovely compliment about Newton’s Nemesis and asked if I knew much about how students with dyscalculia or other math learning disabilities perceived fractions. I really haven’t…

Research Studies

Analogies in Teaching Fractions: Lessons from Hong Kong…

- December 2, 2018February 8, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor 1 Comment

In Newton’s Nemesis, I wanted to provide a nice variety of visual and mental images of division with both whole numbers and fractions. The idea was to help children connect how operations have the same…

Research Studies

Quotative vs. Quotitive Models of Division

- November 25, 2018February 8, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor comment

I was telling a math teacher friend about the comic book series I was developing about teaching fraction division, which really was based on how division is understood. She excitedly asked, "Which model of division…

Research Studies

Connecting Whole Number & Fraction Division

- November 24, 2018February 8, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor comment

In Newton’s Nemesis, I created Theo’s precocious little sister Leah not only because I was like that to my older sister (yes, I regret that a little bit now) but because I wanted to connect…

Commentary

Starting a Research Blog on Dividing by Fractions

- November 24, 2018February 8, 2020 - Cindy Ticknor comment

When I first envisioned using a comic book to teach fractions, I naturally went online to see if anyone had thought of the idea yet. There were plenty of resources on teaching the concept of…