Distributive Partitioning and Its Implications for Fraction Multiplication

• In Event: 18.071 - Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: 18.071-12 - Teacher and Student Learning in the Math Classroom

Abstract

Many students, including preservice teachers, appear to understand fractions only or primarily as quantities and not as operators in fraction multiplication situations. Drawing from task-based interviews, classroom observation, and participants’ homework, the present study examines ten middle grades preservice teachers’ understanding of the role of fractions as operators, with an eye toward exploring how fractional reasoning is constructed. The results point to the construction of the reversible distributive partitioning scheme as a requisite for understanding fractions as operators. Further discussion will suggest that school curricula and teacher education programs may need to be adjusted to reflect more current understandings of both early childhood cognitive development and future teachers’ fractional knowledge.

Author

• Eun Jung, University of Georgia