11/28 Summary: "Fractions: Where It All Goes Wrong"
From Scientific American
(Summary)
Few children master fractions, according to a survey. What’s worse, children in the US perform much worse on fraction problems than those in other European and Asian countries. The reasons why they have difficulty understanding such problems can be classified into two groups: inherent and cultural difficulty. Inherent sources of difficulty come from the nature of fractions. For example, the notation used to express fractions makes it difficult to understand. Another inherent difficulty involves the different procedures needed to calculate fractions. In contrast, difficulties which come from the culture include poor teacher understanding about fractions, the language (English), and US textbooks presenting far fewer problems with fraction division than multiplication. However, it is possible to make the current situation better by tackling each problem. What is more, educational programs which teach children about fraction importance or encourage them to find answers more by themselves than the standard curriculum seem promising. (150 words)
