Introductory tutorial for Fraction Mash, an iPad app for making hilarious photo mashups as you explore fractions. One of five Noticing Tools from the New York Hall of Science. http://noticing.nysci.org

2. About this Tutorial
This tutorial is intended to:
 Introduce all the tools in the app
 Illustrate a sample activity that can be done
using the app

3. What is
Fraction Mash?
Fraction Mash lets you explore
fractions while creating photo
mashups.

4. Fraction Mash was inspired by
combining images and photo effects
We developed a tool
that allows students
to explore concepts
at the heart of fractions:
defining the whole,
denominators,
numerators, and more.

5. Fractions

6. Fractions
(Believe it or not, you’re doing math)
In this app, when you make your mashups, you’re
breaking the pictures into fractional parts.
The grids partition the pictures.
The fractions control the size of the pieces and how
many appear in each photo and in the final mashup.

7. Sample Activity:
Simple Face Mashup

8. Create a mashup
• Create four different
mashups
• For each mashup start
with the same two
faces
• In the first mashup
use denominator of 4,
in the second use 9,
then 16 and 25.

9. To get started, tap:
TELL THE STORY is covered later in this tutorial.

10. This opening
screen shows
dog and tiger,
but you can
import
pictures from
your camera
roll or take
new pictures.
Start with
2 pictures
Tap the mountain button to import new
pictures or take a new one.

11. When taking a new
picture, you can
reverse the camera
for selfie view, turn
on the fraction grid,
and/or overlay with
the other image to
line up features like
eyes, nose and
mouth.
Click the button to the right to take the picture.

12. Tap parts or use
the fractions to
control how
much of each
picture ends up
in your mashup.
Scroll through denominators to select how many parts to cut
up your pictures into. Scroll through numerators to indicate
how many parts you want to mash.

13. Then click
Combine to
see what the
mashup
looks like.
Once you have your mashup, you can toggle on/off the Grid, the
Equation view, and Smooth tool, a subtle blending feature.

14. Continue
with the
Face
Mashup
activity
until you
get to
25ths.
Here we are in equation view so you can see how everything
comes together. Be sure to save your mashups for each
denominator you use in the Face Mashup activity.

15. There you have it…
4 mashups with denominators 4, 9, 16, 25.

16. Notice the other grid options along the bottom of the screen.

17. Grid options
Select custom
grid, then edit
rows and
columns by
swiping
up and down.
This grid option allows for students to define how the
whole gets partitioned into equal parts.

18. The possibilities
for mashups and
exploring math
at the same time
are endless.

19. Tell the Story

20. Fraction Mash also allows students to create a multi-media
reflection report about their projects in TELL THE STORY.
Tap:

21. Create a
Reflection
Report
Tap “+” to create a new report or tap on a report
you’ve already made to access it, edit it, or share it.

22. Create a Report
You are given a
few template
options.
Blank allows you to customize your reflection.

23. Create a Report
In this template,
notice that you
can edit the title
and subtitle.
Then, start adding media and/or text with different
layout options.

24. Create a Report
Here we chose
to add the
mashup we
made in Fraction
Mash.
Tapping the “+” allows you to continue adding
text and media.

25. Create a Report
Adding
screenshots and
text is a great
way to reflect on
what you made
and the math
you have used in
Fraction Mash.
Teachers are invited to scaffold the reflection as they
see fit by offering students suggestions for what to
include.

26. Create a Report
Once the
reflection report
is complete
and you have
effectively
told the story,
you have the
option to
share to our
online hub.
Visit noticing.nysci.org/resources for ways to share work.

27. Help
For extra help
while in the app,
tap the “?”.
You will see highlighted help information
as shown.

28.  For classroom activities, visit:
www.nysci.org/noticing/resources
 For more information, FAQ’s, other info, check out our
website: www.nysci.org/noticing
We hope you have a lot of fun with Fraction Mash, and
learn some things about fractions!
Resources Thanks very much for checking
out the tutorial.

29. More Noticing Tools from NYSCI
Size Wise lets you explore ratios and proportions while making funny
pictures that make things seem wildly larger or smaller than they really
are.
Choreo Graph lets you play with geometry & graphs to make
pictures of your cat, friend, or action figure perform some cool
moves.
Volumize lets you explore surface area and volume as you take 2D
photos of things in the world and make them 3-dimensional.
Playground Physics allows you to uncover and analyze the physics in
what you do.