Levels of students' "conception" of fractions

Abstract

In this paper, we examine sixth grade students' degree of conceptualization of fractions. A specially developed test aimed to measure students' understanding of fractions along the three stages proposed by Sfard (1991) was administered to 321 sixth grade students. The Rasch model was applied to specify the reliability of the test across the sample and cluster analysis to locate groups by facility level. The analysis revealed six such levels. The characteristics of each level were specified according to Sfard's framework and the results of the fraction test. Based on our findings, we draw implications for the learning and teaching of fractions and provide suggestions for future research. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.