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Developmental predictors of fraction concepts and procedures
Nancy C Jordan1, Nicole Hansen, Lynn S Fuchs
1School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA. njordan@udel.edu
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|March 20, 2013
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Understanding fraction concepts and procedures is crucial for mathematical development.
- Identifying early predictors can inform interventions for students struggling with fractions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental predictors of children's fraction concepts and procedures.
- To identify unique contributions of various cognitive and academic skills to fraction understanding.
Main Methods:
- A 2-year longitudinal study involving 357 children from third to fourth grade.
- Assessed attentive behavior, language, nonverbal reasoning, number line estimation, calculation fluency, working memory, and reading fluency.
Main Results:
- Attentive behavior, language, nonverbal reasoning, number line estimation, calculation fluency, and reading fluency uniquely predicted conceptual understanding of fractions.
- Number line estimation, attentive behavior, calculation fluency, and working memory uniquely contributed to fraction arithmetic procedures.
- Number line estimation showed the largest independent contribution to both aspects of fraction learning.
Conclusions:
- Both general cognitive competencies and number-specific skills are important for learning fractions.
- Number line estimation is a key predictor for both fraction concepts and procedures.
- These findings highlight the need for targeted support for students struggling with fractions.
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