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PRESCHOOLERS' COGNITIONS OF FRACTIONAL UNITS
Author(s) -
HUNTING ROBERT P.,
SHARPLEY CHRISTOPHER F.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1988.tb00890.x
Subject(s) - psychology , cognition , fraction (chemistry) , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , organic chemistry , chemistry , neuroscience
S ummary . Problems requiring the sharing of discrete and continuous quantities, and problems involving the fractions 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 were individually presented to 206 preschool children. The children conceived of sharing in flexible and idiosyncratic fashion, showing common non‐exhaustion of the material which was required to be shared and little evidence of anticipatory strategies prior to making subdivisions or checking and adjustment of resultant shares. While most children did not understand the fraction language used, there was evidence of a qualitative concept of one‐half. A systematic procedure for sharing discrete objects was demonstrated by 60 per cent of the children. This procedure resulted in equal fractional units and could be a basis for meaningful fraction knowledge.