Why do children find fractions difficult?
Difficulties with fractions often stem from the fact that they are different from natural numbers in that they are relative rather than a fixed amount - the same fraction might refer to different quantities and different fractions may be equivalent (Nunes, 2006). Would you rather have one quarter of £20 or half of £5? The fact that a half is the bigger fraction does not necessarily mean that the amount you end up with will be bigger. The question should always be, 'fraction of what?'; 'what is the whole?'. Fractions can refer to objects, quantities or shapes, thus extending their complexity.
In order to be able to develop their understanding and then generalise about fractions, children need to explore many representations and uses over a significant period of time. In the Early Years, learners will have learnt to generalise the concept of three by having lots of experience of the three-ness of three, yet with fractions we may find in school that their experience is limited to pizzas, sticky paper and chocolate! Do the children have experience of objects, shapes and amounts in equal measure and do they have experience of the whole being something other than 'one'?
Why do children find fractions difficult?Difficulties with fractions often stem from the fact that they are different from natural numbers in that they are relative rather than a fixed amount - the same fraction might refer to different quantities and different fractions may be equivalent (Nunes, 2006). Would you rather have one quarter of £20 or half of £5? The fact that a half is the bigger fraction does not necessarily mean that the amount you end up with will be bigger. The question should always be, 'fraction of what?'; 'what is the whole?'. Fractions can refer to objects, quantities or shapes, thus extending their complexity. In order to be able to develop their understanding and then generalise about fractions, children need to explore many representations and uses over a significant period of time. In the Early Years, learners will have learnt to generalise the concept of three by having lots of experience of the three-ness of three, yet with fractions we may find in school that their experience is limited to pizzas, sticky paper and chocolate! Do the children have experience of objects, shapes and amounts in equal measure and do they have experience of the whole being something other than 'one'?
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