Math Learning Disabilities and Fraction Comparisons: Understanding Errors

• In Event: Assessment and Instruction of Problem-Solving Skills

Abstract

When solving basic fraction comparison problems (e.g., “which is larger 1/2 or 2/3?”), students with mathematical learning disabilities (MLDs) make qualitatively different kinds of errors than both typically achieving and low-achieving students. Students with MLDs experience persistent difficulties with the easiest comparison problems (problems involving fractions with the same denominator or comparisons involving the fraction 1/2). To investigate the origin of these difficulties I conducted a detailed analysis of videotaped tutoring data with two students with a math learning disability and examined their explanations for comparison problems. Not only did these two students demonstrate the same pattern of errors, but the students had alternative understandings of fractional quantities, which explains the unique error pattern identified in students with MLDs.

Author

• Katherine Lewis, University of Washington - Seattle