Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-6-2015
Abstract
Previous research has documented that preservice teachers (PSTs) struggle with under- standing fraction concepts and operations, and misconceptions often stem from their understanding of the referent whole. This study expands research on PSTs’ understanding of wholes by investigating pictorial strategies that 85 PSTs constructed for a multistep fraction task in a multiplicative context. The results show that many PSTs were able to construct valid pictorial strategies, and the strategies were widely diverse with respect to how they made sense of an unknown referent whole of a fraction in multiple steps, how they represented the wholes in their drawings, in which order they did multiple steps, and which type of model they used (area or set). Based on their wide range of pictorial strategies, we discuss potential benefits of PSTs’ construction of their own representations for a word problem in developing problem solving skills.
Recommended Citation
Baek, Jae M.; Wickstrom, Megan H.; Tobias, Jennifer M.; Miller, Amanda L.; Safak, Elif; Wessman-Enzinger, Nicole; and Kirwan, J. Vince, "Preservice teachers’ pictorial strategies for a multistep multiplicative fraction problem" (2015). Faculty Publications - College of Education. 180.
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/soe_faculty/180
Comments
Originally published in The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 6 October 2015, Elsevier.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2016.10.005