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Early Fraction learning is centrally of interest to students and researchersin mathematics education, tackling as it does one of that discipline's most vexing problems: why are fractions so difficult to learn and to teach?
This Handbook reviews a wealth of research in cognitive and educational psychology that investigates how to enhance learning and instruction to aid students struggling to learn and to advise teachers on how best to support student learning. The Handbook includes features that inform readers about how to improve instruction and student achievement based on scientific evidence across different domains, including science, mathematics, reading and writing. Each chapter supplies a description of the learning goal, a balanced presentation of the current evidence about the efficacy of various approaches to obtaining that learning goal, and a discussion of important future directions for research in this area. It is the ideal resource for researchers continuing their study of this field or for those only now beginning to explore how to improve student achievement.
For years, the teaching and learning of fractions has been associated with rote memorization. But this mechanical approach to instruction—which strips students of an ability to reason or make sense of math—has resulted in a failure of understanding. Author Monica Neagoy, drawing on decades of research studies, evidence from teacher practice, and 25 years of experience working around the world with teachers, students, and parents, addresses seven big ideas in the teaching and learning of fractions in grades 2–6. Each idea is supported by a vignette from a real classroom, common misconceptions, a thorough unpacking of productive mathematical thinking, and several multistep and thought-provoking problems for teachers to explore. She offers three fundamental reasons why it’s imperative for us to take a closer look at how we teach fractions: 1. Fractions play a key role in students’ feelings about mathematics. 2. Fractions are fundamental to school math and daily life. 3. Fractions are foundational to success in algebra. While a solid grounding in algebra is necessary for a STEM career, the worthy goal of “algebra for all” will not be possible until “fractions for all” is a reality. Unpacking Fractions provides teachers with concrete strategies for achieving that reality—in short, helping all students gain the knowledge they need to feel at ease with fractions.
Supporting and understanding your students’ fractional knowledge is crucial to their overall grasp of numbers and mathematics. By centralizing around three key stages of development, this effective guide will help you to assess your students’ understanding of fractions and modify your teaching accordingly. These key stages are identified as: Stage 1a: Fair Sharing Stage 1b: Part-Whole Stage 2a: Disembedding and IteratingStage 2b: Measuring with Unit Fractions Stage 2c: Reversing Fractions Stage 3a: Fractions as Numbers Stage 3b: Operating with Fractions As the newest addition to the bestselling Maths Recovery Series, this book will be a useful guide for all primary classroom teachers and assistants, including experienced Mathematics Recovery instructors.
Children’s Fractional Knowledge elegantly tracks the construction of knowledge, both by children learning new methods of reasoning and by the researchers studying their methods. The book challenges the widely held belief that children’s whole number knowledge is a distraction from their learning of fractions by positing that their fractional learning involves reorganizing—not simply using or building upon—their whole number knowledge. This hypothesis is explained in detail using examples of actual grade-schoolers approaching problems in fractions including the schemes they construct to relate parts to a whole, to produce a fraction as a multiple of a unit part, to transform a fraction into a commensurate fraction, or to combine two fractions multiplicatively or additively. These case studies provide a singular journey into children’s mathematics experience, which often varies greatly from that of adults. Moreover, the authors’ descriptive terms reflect children’s quantitative operations, as opposed to adult mathematical phrases rooted in concepts that do not reflect—and which in the classroom may even suppress—youngsters’ learning experiences. Highlights of the coverage: Toward a formulation of a mathematics of living instead of being Operations that produce numerical counting schemes Case studies: children’s part-whole, partitive, iterative, and other fraction schemes Using the generalized number sequence to produce fraction schemes Redefining school mathematics This fresh perspective is of immediate importance to researchers in mathematics education. With the up-close lens onto mathematical development found in Children’s Fractional Knowledge, readers can work toward creating more effective methods for improving young learners’ quantitative reasoning skills.
The aim of this book is to define and discuss the key issues raised by new findings in the study of quantitative development. One basic question addressed is how the abilities reported in infants and young children relate to later development. In some accounts, one is left with the impression that infants possess all the fundamental skills that make up mature quantitative reasoning. According to this view, subsequent development seems to consist of little more than the gradual expression of these skills in increasing complex and explicit tasks. This is a major departure from previously held views of quantitative development, such as that of Piaget. To evaluate these new claims, authors will first review the abilities attributed to infants and then define the parameters of early childhood competencies. Comparing the two developmental periods, the authors will evaluate the finding, discuss the transition between these age periods, and offer a framework for understanding later development of quantitative skills, such as counting and calculation. Underlying the argument throughout will be an examination of the nativist versus empiricist debate that has taken center stage in infancy research.
Ways adults think about mathematics and the ways children think about mathematics are not necessarily the same. Listening, observing, and talking with children is necessary so that teachers, parents, and carers can figure out where they are coming from mathematically. If children’s mathematics encompasses their own meanings and understandings, and those meanings and understandings may be different to mine, then to provide effective assistance and support, I must make every effort to see mathematics from their perspective. In this book I highlight important aspects of children’s beginning understandings of mathematics, illustrated with examples taken from observations of children. In Chapter 1 I discuss the origins of mathematics in infants with illustrations provided from three major strands of mathematics: number, space, and measurement. In Chapter 2 I give examples of different ways young children use fingers in their efforts to solve simple mathematical problems, looking in detail at one child’s behavior. Chapter 3 focuses on a 4-year-old’s views about numbers. There is a commonly held belief that before children start school they have not really thought about numbers; that young children’s mathematical minds are a blank slate. Nothing could be further from the case. In Chapter 4 I discuss the topic of counting, focusing firstly on the spontaneous counting behavior of a 4-year-old, followed by interviews that further reveal how his knowledge of numbers and counting are related. Chapter 5 further discusses how children learn about numbers; in particular the various conceptions children have of the number 10. I explain the significance of part-whole knowledge in children’s numerical thinking in Chapter 6, with examples taken from preschool, the 2nd grade, and 5th grade. Chapter 7 is about sharing, its origins, contexts when sharing arises, types of sharing, and the relationship between sharing and counting, sharing and division, and sharing as a platform for learning fractions. In Chapter 8 I begin by discussing early geometric ideas, including basic operations for moving items in two dimensions, followed by three-dimensional activities. I discuss the key notion of conservation of quantity and conclude with comments about scale and distance. Chapter 9 begins with the question “What is measurement?” I discuss the issue of measurement error, then sketch out a general development of measurement thinking. Types of conservation are described, as are unit systems. Finally, children’s thinking in area situations, including common misconceptions, are discussed. In Chapter 10, after a story showing how fractions can be introduced naturally, I focus on the fraction knowledge of an 11-year-old, who responded to a range of tasks designed to tease out this child’s conceptual understanding of fractions.
A practical introduction to using Mplus for the analysis of multivariate data, this volume provides step-by-step guidance, complete with real data examples, numerous screen shots, and output excerpts. The author shows how to prepare a data set for import in Mplus using SPSS. He explains how to specify different types of models in Mplus syntax and address typical caveats--for example, assessing measurement invariance in longitudinal SEMs. Coverage includes path and factor analytic models as well as mediational, longitudinal, multilevel, and latent class models. Specific programming tips and solution strategies are presented in boxes in each chapter. The companion website (http://crmda.ku.edu/guilford/geiser) features data sets, annotated syntax files, and output for all of the examples. Of special utility to instructors and students, many of the examples can be run with the free demo version of Mplus.
