Scaffolded Navigation: Assisting and Assessing Students During Fraction Division Problem Solving (Poster 10)

• In Event: Thursday Poster Session 10:50 am
  In Poster Session: Research in Mathematics Education

Abstract

Scaffolded navigation refers to personalized navigation that offers different paths through a computer-based assessment. This study (n = 1,320 students, grades 6-8) investigated two different scaffolds designed to support students as they solved partitive division story problems in which a fraction is divided by a whole number. One scaffold showed a visual model and the other utilized an analogous whole number division problem. The results showed that visual models may be especially helpful to students just on the cusp of understanding fraction division. Analogue scaffolds were not found to be effective. This study represents a first step toward developing an assessment that can offer students different paths while providing instructionally relevant information to teachers about which supports helped individual students.

Authors

• Colleen O'Donnell Oppenzato, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• Meredith Langi, WestEd

• Erik Ruzek, NWEA