Poster #21 - Notation Preferences in Rational Number Arithmetic

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Unlike whole numbers, rational numbers are commonly represented by three symbolic notations—fractions, decimals, and percentages. Each notation affords some tasks better than others. For example, a recent study from our lab found that among university students, fractions are preferred over decimals for multiplication, whereas decimals are preferred over fractions for addition. The current study will test whether 6th and 8th graders also display these preferences, and will investigate whether children’s notation preferences are consistent with principles of adaptive strategy choice. In the first task, on each trial, participants will see a pair of equivalent fraction and decimal problems involving either addition (e.g., 2/5+4/5, 0.4+0.8) or multiplication (e.g, 3/4×1/2, 0.75×0.5) and will indicate which of the problems they would prefer to solve without solving it. In the second task, participants will solve all of the problems that were presented in the first task. We hypothesize that in the first task, children will prefer fractions on trials involving multiplication, but will prefer decimals on trials involving addition. Further, we predict that accuracy will follow the same pattern as preferences, namely, accuracy on multiplication problems will be higher with fractions and accuracy on addition problems will be higher on decimals. Lastly, we hypothesize that children’s notation preferences for rational number arithmetic will be adaptive, in the sense that for a given type of problem, the notation that a given child prefers will tend to be the notation with which that child is more accurate for that type of problem.

Authors

• Qiushan Liu, Florida State University
  Presenting Author

• David Braithwaite, Florida State University