Pre-Service Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ Informal Strategies for Multiplication and Division of Fractions
Abstract
The aim of the study was to identify pre-service elementary mathematics teacher’s informal strategies for multiplication and division of fractions. The design of the study is a descriptive survey focusing on pre-service elementary mathematics teachers’ strategies. The participants were 173 pre-service elementary mathematics teachers including 45 freshmen, 64 sophomore, and 64 junior students studying in an elementary mathematics education program at a public university in Ankara. In this study, pre-service teachers were asked to solve two computations of fractions questions, 2/5×2 1/2 and 1/2÷1/8, without using the rule-based strategy (e.g. inverting the divisor and multiply). The results of the study revealed that pre-service elementary mathematics teachers used four different strategies (using area model, using set model, repeated addition, and distributive property) for multiplication of fractions; five different strategies (using area model, using set model, common denominator, repeated subtraction, using decimal strategy) for division of fractions. It was also found that the percentages of using these strategies were quite low.
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