The Tension Between Division and Fair Share

Abstract

AbstractThis study focuses on sharing, both in equal parts (groups) or unequal parts. Children at age five attending preschool, are faced with two different tasks working in pairs. The analysis focus on the mathematical properties in the reasoning, or when mathematical arguments were replaced with an ethical reasoning. When performing division, different strategies were used, and the norm of fair share was often expressed. It was easier for the children to allocate resources when the dividend was larger than the divisor, and when dealing with a fraction, the cardinality of the number of parts appeared to be a prominent property compared to property ‘equal size’ of the parts. There were also indications of ethical reasoning where the child used different claims to convince their peer. There was a tension between the norm of equal sharing and solutions with unequal parts. One implication is that if wanting to challenge children’s mathematical reasoning in a division task, it could be fruitful to look at fractions instead of repeating tasks where the dividend is larger than the divisor.