Do Children Understand Fraction Addition?

Autor/inn/en	Braithwaite, David W.; Tian, Jing; Siegler, Robert S.
Titel	Do Children Understand Fraction Addition?
Quelle	(2018), (39 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	Weitere Informationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
DOI	10.1111/desc.12601
Schlagwörter	Fractions; Addition; Arithmetic; Mathematics; Skills; Mathematical Concepts; Hypothesis Testing; Grade 4; Grade 5; Grade 6; Grade 7; Grade 8; Computation; Cognitive Development; Concept Formation; Elementary School Students; Individual Differences; Middle School Students; Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bruchrechnung; Addition; Arithmetik; Arithmetikunterricht; Rechnen; Mathematik; Skill; Fertigkeit; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; School year 04; 4. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 04; School year 05; 5. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 05; School year 06; 6. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 06; School year 07; 7. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 07; School year 08; 8. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 08; Kognitive Entwicklung; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Individueller Unterschied; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin
Abstract	Many children fail to master fraction arithmetic even after years of instruction. A recent theory of fraction arithmetic (Braithwaite, Pyke, & Siegler, in press) hypothesized that this poor learning of fraction arithmetic procedures reflects poor conceptual understanding of them. To test this hypothesis, we performed three experiments examining fourth to eighth graders' estimates of fraction sums. We found that roughly half of estimates of sums were smaller than the same child's estimate of one of the two addends in the problem. Moreover, children's estimates of fraction sums were no more accurate than if they had estimated each sum as the average of the smallest and largest possible response. This weak performance could not be attributed to poor mastery of arithmetic procedures, poor knowledge of individual fraction magnitudes, or general inability to estimate sums. These results suggest that a major source of difficulty in this domain is that many children's learning of fraction arithmetic procedures develops unconstrained by conceptual understanding of the procedures. Implications for education are discussed. [At the time of submission to ERIC this article was in press with "Developmental Science." For the published version of this article, see EJ1183156.] (As Provided).
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01