RELATION BETWEEN LEARNERS’ SPONTANEOUS FOCUSING ON QUANTITATIVE RELATIONS AND THEIR RATIONAL NUMBER KNOWLEDGE

• Authors: Jo Van Hoof , Tine Degrande , Jake McMullen , Minna Hannula-Sormunen , Erno Lehtinen , Lieven Verschaffel , Wim Van Dooren
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Many difficulties learners have with rational number tasks can be attributed to the “natural number bias”, i.e. the tendency to inappropriately use natural number properties in rational numbers tasks (Van Hoof, 2015). McMullen and colleagues found a relevant source of individual differences in the learning of those aspects of rational numbers that are susceptible to the natural number bias, namely Spontaneous Focusing On quantitative Relations (SFOR) (McMullen, 2014). While McMullen and colleagues showed that SFOR relates to rational number knowledge as a whole, we studied its relation with several aspects of the natural number bias. Additionally, we 1) included test items addressing operations with rational numbers and 2) controlled for general mathematics achievement and age. The results showed that SFOR related strongly to rational number knowledge, even after taking into account several control variables. The results are discussed for each of the three aspects of the natural number bias separately.

Keywords

EN

QUANTITATIVE RELATIONS; FRACTIONS; RATIONAL NUMBER; ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; NATURAL NUMBER BIAS

• Publisher: Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Studia Psychologica
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 156 – 170

Contributors

author

Jo Van Hoof

• Instructional Psychology and Technology, University of Leuven Dekenstraat 2 - box 3773, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

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Tine Degrande

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Jake McMullen

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Minna Hannula-Sormunen

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Erno Lehtinen

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Lieven Verschaffel

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Wim Van Dooren