Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractions
Teachers’ mathematical knowledge is critical for their teaching of mathematics. We investigated whether elementary teachers believe that a unit fraction, , results only from a whole equipartitioned into 1/n parts. We adapted Ciosek and Samborska’s (2016) Frame Task, presenting a frame consisting o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Boletim GEPEM |
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| Online Access: | https://periodicos.ufrrj.br/index.php/gepem/article/view/614 |
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| author | Arthur Powell Muteb Alqahtani Özlem Temur Daniela Tirnovan |
| author_facet | Arthur Powell Muteb Alqahtani Özlem Temur Daniela Tirnovan |
| author_sort | Arthur Powell |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Teachers’ mathematical knowledge is critical for their teaching of mathematics. We investigated whether elementary teachers believe that a unit fraction, , results only from a whole equipartitioned into 1/n parts. We adapted Ciosek and Samborska’s (2016) Frame Task, presenting a frame consisting of three unequal segmented squared rings, with one squared ring shaded. In semi-structured interviews, 19 teachers engaged the task and reasoned whether the shaded portion equals 1/3 of the frame. Our findings indicate that about three-quarters of the participants believe that either (1) to have one-third of a quantity, a section needs to be one of three parts, or (2) a section cannot be 1/3 of an object if the object is partitioned into three unequal sections. Finally, we hypothesize how an iterative perspective of unit fractions may mitigate against the false beliefs that Ciosek and Samborska (2016) and our study document.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4100ced1126f43e5ac7d5fbc42d1a1e3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0104-9739 2176-2988 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Boletim GEPEM |
| spelling | doaj-art-4100ced1126f43e5ac7d5fbc42d1a1e32025-02-08T02:36:59ZengUniversidade Federal Rural do Rio de JaneiroBoletim GEPEM0104-97392176-29882022-12-0180Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractionsArthur Powell0Muteb Alqahtani1Özlem Temur2Daniela Tirnovan3Rutgers UniversityState University of New York at CortlandDumlupinar ÜniversitesiRutgers University-New Brunswick Teachers’ mathematical knowledge is critical for their teaching of mathematics. We investigated whether elementary teachers believe that a unit fraction, , results only from a whole equipartitioned into 1/n parts. We adapted Ciosek and Samborska’s (2016) Frame Task, presenting a frame consisting of three unequal segmented squared rings, with one squared ring shaded. In semi-structured interviews, 19 teachers engaged the task and reasoned whether the shaded portion equals 1/3 of the frame. Our findings indicate that about three-quarters of the participants believe that either (1) to have one-third of a quantity, a section needs to be one of three parts, or (2) a section cannot be 1/3 of an object if the object is partitioned into three unequal sections. Finally, we hypothesize how an iterative perspective of unit fractions may mitigate against the false beliefs that Ciosek and Samborska (2016) and our study document. https://periodicos.ufrrj.br/index.php/gepem/article/view/614Number Concepts and Operations, Rational Numbers, Teacher Beliefs, Teacher Knowledge |
| spellingShingle | Arthur Powell Muteb Alqahtani Özlem Temur Daniela Tirnovan Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractions Boletim GEPEM Number Concepts and Operations, Rational Numbers, Teacher Beliefs, Teacher Knowledge |
| title | Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractions |
| title_full | Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractions |
| title_fullStr | Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractions |
| title_short | Elementary school teachers’ understanding of unit fractions |
| title_sort | elementary school teachers understanding of unit fractions |
| topic | Number Concepts and Operations, Rational Numbers, Teacher Beliefs, Teacher Knowledge |
| url | https://periodicos.ufrrj.br/index.php/gepem/article/view/614 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arthurpowell elementaryschoolteachersunderstandingofunitfractions AT mutebalqahtani elementaryschoolteachersunderstandingofunitfractions AT ozlemtemur elementaryschoolteachersunderstandingofunitfractions AT danielatirnovan elementaryschoolteachersunderstandingofunitfractions |