Premium
How do college students solve proportion problems?
Author(s) -
Thornton Melvin C.,
Fuller Robert G.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.3660180408
Subject(s) - mathematics education , task (project management) , metric (unit) , presentation (obstetrics) , period (music) , section (typography) , constant (computer programming) , psychology , science education , computer science , mathematics , programming language , engineering , acoustics , radiology , medicine , operations management , physics , operating system , systems engineering
Abstract Problems which could be solved using proportional reasoning were administered nationwide by college faculty to their own science classes during a three year period. The reasoning of more than 8000 students covering three sections of the country was classified as concrete, transitional, or formal using Piagetian categories. Data from the West closely replicated that from the Midwest on similar metric conversion tasks. Student performance changed noticeably with a different problem format. The percentages of students using a ratio formula, ratio attempt, or intuitive methods of solution held approximately constant over time, task, and section of the country. The data shows the use of additive and conversion methods of solution depends upon the problem presentation.