Examining preservice teachers’ bar model representations for solving word problems involving fractions

Date

2025-01-01

Author

Lizano, Cheryl
Sevinç, Şerife

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The purpose of this mixed methods study is to explore elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) use of bar models for solving problems involving fractions. As part of a larger project, a sample of 17 PSTs’ written work for 10 word problems was analyzed. A mediation analysis showed that bar model correctness had a direct effect on overall solution correctness, and bar model completeness had a direct effect on bar model correctness. However, bar model completeness had only an indirect effect on overall solution correctness. A qualitative analysis of the types of completeness and correctness errors that PSTs made when creating bar models yielded three categories of completeness errors and five categories of correctness errors. Most of these error types were general errors related to creating bar models for problems from any content domain, and the distribution of correct and incorrect overall solutions within these categories was approximately uniform. However, one error category, incorrectly representing a fractional relationship, was specific to the domain of fractions and impeded PSTs’ ability to generate a correct overall solution. This error reflects a key fraction concept, a misunderstanding of the unit whole, which has been well-documented in the literature as a conceptual difficulty for PSTs. Implications for research and teacher preparation are discussed.

Subject Keywords

Bar model, Fractions, Preservice teacher education, Problem-solving heuristic

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https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=105018597784&origin=inward
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/116547

Collections

Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Article