Fractional Reasoning with Representation: Insights from Malaysia

Abstract

Objective - Fractional reasoning is a crucial aspect of mathematical understanding fundamental in various mathematical concepts, real-world applications, and higher-level mathematical skills. Comprehending and working with fractions through various strategies, such as representation, is essential for students to develop a solid foundation in mathematics. However, fractional reasoning remains challenging in classroom teaching and learning since it requires deep understanding. Methodology/Technique – The current issue is a more comprehensive and conceptually grounded approach to foster a deeper acquisition of fractional reasoning strategies. Hence, this study aims to investigate to what extent primary school pupils develop fractional reasoning strategies to solve related problems, specifically for fractions of an area and fractions of a set of objects. A case study was conducted to interview eight primary school pupils from Perak (in Malaysia) for the data collection. Finding – The participants' solutions were observed to triangulate the interview data. In the content analysis, the identification of codes was carried out. Their findings revealed that the participants relied on strategies of representation methods of enactive and symbolic representations when working on fractions of an area. Novelty – This study introduces a novel perspective by emphasising that the identified fractional reasoning strategies are not isolated skills. The primary school pupils predominantly employed enactive and symbolic representations for fractions of an area, while favouring symbolic representations when reasoning fractions for a set of objects. These insights offer valuable guidance to educators, suggesting that a varied instructional approach, incorporating real-world contexts, can contribute to a more profound and versatile comprehension of fractions across diverse mathematical scenarios. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: I26, I29 Keywords: Representation, Enactive, Symbolic, Fractions, Fractional Reasoning Reference to this paper should be referred to as follows: Kamaruddin, N.I.H; Hoon, T.S; Hong, J.B.Z. (2024). Fractional Reasoning with Representation: Insights from Malaysia, GATR-Global J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Review, 12(1), 01–14. https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2024.12.1(1)