Profiles of young students’ understanding of fractions on number lines

Abstract

Number lines are acknowledged as an effective model for understanding fractions, yet students often face challenges in interpreting fractions on number lines. This study contributes to the field by investigating students’ performance on fraction number line tasks that require the coordination of their fraction and number line knowledge. To explore this, test items were developed, and 122 fourth-grade students participated in the assessment. Students’ written responses underwent analysis in three phases: a descriptive overview of overall student performance, latent profile analysis to identify subgroups with different competencies, and a qualitative analysis of each latent profile. The findings indicated lower performance among students across the tasks, revealing three distinct latent profiles with different competency characteristics: intuitive, emergent, and advanced understanding of fractions on the number line. From these findings, instructional implications were extrapolated for using number lines as a model for fractions.