Assessing understanding of fraction concepts across three levels of education

Abstract

Fraction concepts are introduced to the primary and lower secondary schoolstudents. However the applications of the concepts can be found at all levels of mathematics education and in other diciplines as well. This paper reports on theresearch that was carried out to assess students’ understanding of fraction acrossthree levels of education. The sample is made up of three groups of students: 66primary school students, 67 secondary school students and 57 undergraduatestudents. This study employed quantitative as well as qualitative research methods.The quantitative data was collected from an administered short test consisting of 20open-ended questions. The data was then analysed and issues that emerged wereprobed through a semi-structured clinical interview with selected subjects. Thispaper compares the work done by students age 12, 16 and 20 years old on the sameproblems designed to reveal the richness of their understandings.