Students are taught to look for patterns in solving mathematical problems. Starting in the lower grades, they learn that math problems can be decomposed and recomposed without its value changing (the distributive property). In this module, you’ll see teachers demonstrating how ratios, percentages, and fractions can have very similar meanings but depending on the context, they might chose one strategy over another. Students can use this knowledge to simplify and solve more difficult mathematical problems in the higher grades.