Influence of in-depth teacher knowledge of fractions on learning in 4th grade students

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the extent to which teachers' in-depth knowledge of fractions and knowledge of how to teach them, adjusted for socioeconomic level and level of knowledge attained in mathematics in schools (SIMCE), influences student learning in conceptualizing fractions in 4 th grade. With information from 378 fourth-grade students in 9 schools and their mathematics teachers, the regression analysis results show that teachers' in-depth knowledge has a significant effect on student learning (p = 0.001), beyond that explained by the school's SIMCE score, which is also significant (p = 0.02).