No. The indented purpose was to show the kids that they could use a number line to determine which fraction was greater.
Have they been taught how to determine the lowest common denominator and then convert the fractions to that denominator?
Yes. That was the second part of the lesson. They were taught to methods for working the problems, then had to work some problems with a number line and others by finding a common denominator and comparing.
That's goofy, given that the lines were at different scales. Besides, as someone else pointed out, people on the metric system don't use fractions for meter. They use a decimal number.
Yes. That was the second part of the lesson. They were taught to methods for working the problems, then had to work some problems with a number line and others by finding a common denominator and comparing.
Anybody can find a common denominator, but it's more convenient to find the least common denominator. Are they teaching the kids how to do that?