The magnitude representations of fractions of Chinese students: evidence from behavioral experiment and eye-tracking

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2024-02, Vol.43 (5), p.4113-4128
• Main Authors: Wu, Hao, Zhang, Yuding, Luo, Qiong, Zhu, Zhengzhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Elementary school students; Middle schools; Psychology; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Social Sciences; University students
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-04627-9

Early knowledge of fractions can largely predict later mathematical performance, and a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of fractions is fundamental to learning more advanced mathematics. The study aimed to explore the influencing factors and age characteristics of magnitude representations of fractions by a fraction comparison task, using subjects’ eye-movement measures as direct evidence and the results of linear regression analyses as indirect evidence. The results found that the number of digits of fractions’ components and types of fraction pairs jointly influence the magnitude representations of fractions. For one-digit fraction pairs with and without common components, componential representation is favored; for two-digit fraction pairs with common components, componential representation is preferred, while for two-digit fraction pairs without common components, holistic representation is selected. The representation styles are consistent across university students, junior high school students and primary school students, and there are significant age differences in representation levels, with university students being more flexible in their use of representation strategies of fractions than the other two ages, and junior high school students showing the same level with the primary school students. These results suggest that not only Chinese university students, but also Chinese primary and junior high school students can select and adapt representation strategies of fractions according to the characteristics and complexity of fraction processing tasks. The eye-movement technique can largely compensate for the shortcomings of the regression analysis paradigm and better reveal the critical cognitive processes involved in the processing of fractions.